In The Edge of the World, Michael Powell’s first major film, a remote Scottish island becomes the setting for a tale about the disrupting effect of modernity on local communities. When socio-economic changes make their usual way of life practically impossible, the islanders are torn between leaving their homes in search of a better future on the mainland and staying on their beloved island despite the grim prospects. While the film’s black-and-white documentary style is at odds with the thrilling technicolor aesthetic of Powell’s later films, it also contains a hint of surrealism that foreshadows the imaginative and fantastical approach he would soon develop through his famous collaborations with Emeric Pressburger.
Alfred Hitchcock, a close friend and major influence on Powell, had an ambiguous relationship with Hollywood. Although he worked within the commercial studio system for much of his career, his distinctive style makes him undeniably an auteur. Rope is perhaps the film in which his stubborn side is most apparent. With this huis clos about two friends hosting a dinner party after having committed what they consider the “perfect murder”, the filmmaker breaks the rules of continuity editing by making the story unfold in real time through a series of extremely long takes that are seamlessly edited together. With camera movement as the most important formal device, Rope relies entirely on the narrative power of mise-en-scène, making it one of Hitchcock’s – and by extension Hollywood’s – most experimental films.
Many of Johan van der Keuken’s films have political overtones, but few are as politically committed as Vietnam Opera and De Palestijnen, in which he explicitly takes a stand on two concrete political issues: the Vietnam War and the Palestinian question. Although less self-reflexive than his other films, these visual explorations of international politics are nonetheless shaped by van der Keuken’s characteristic perceptive style.
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