The Ister

In The Ister, a journey is made along the Danube -from the Black Sea Delta in Rumania upstream to the source in Germany’s Black Forest -a journey based on the lectures given by the influential yet controversial philosopher Martin Heidegger around a poem by Hölderlin. The lectures date from 1942, the year when the Nazis decided to implement the Final Solution. Looking at the 2840-kilometre-long river, questions are posed about fundamental issues such as nature, technology and politics. The film demands a lot from the spectator, but it’s worth it, because much insight is provided into the fascinating thoughts of Heidegger and into the foundations of Western civilisation. The film is made up of five parts. In part one, Bernard Stiegler discusses the story of humanity as the story of the history of technology. On the way we meet a Yugoslavian engineer who talks about the NATO bombing raids in Novi Sad in 1999. In part two, we travel through Hungary, while the philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy reflects on the nature of political institutions and on the fundamental concepts of democracy in the face of tyranny. In part three, in Austria, the philosopher Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe investigates Heidegger’s opinions about technology in relation to his Nazi sympathies. In part four, we again hear from Stiegler and two 19th-century German monuments are rediscovered. In part five, film maker Hans-Jürgen Syberberg prominently takes centre stage.