Fegefeuer

Haro Senft's FEGEFEUER (1971) is a highly experimental & at the same time political movie which in a brilliant artistic manner tells the difficult story of a young outsider & his involuntary being entangled in the moral ambiguities of the society he lives in. especially the outstanding montage-technique of the movie - with, at that time, very avantgarde image-cut-up sequences - represents the changes in the mind of the young hero: first, he is solitary & by himself & in the end, after having gone through tremendous expansions of his consciousness, he becomes "one of us". although the movie - from the present perspective - looks somewhat "historical", it did pave the way for new cinematographic ways of showing the inner worlds & processes of conscious individual evolution. the musical score by SUPERTRAMP (the only movie- score they ever did) is wild & heavy & adds the fever & the unrest of the 60s & the early 70s to the story. ronald steckel

This film was being made about the time that I was born. Today I see it through the eyes of a 38 year old and sense it intensive strenght. The film certainly belonged then to the avantgarde. Today it seems more modern than ever. It is as if the film want to remind us, that this medium, despite its technical perfection, has in no way exhausted all its possibilities for throwing light upon human existence and life's interrelationships. The dramatization is subtle and honest. The film's rational, emotional and psychological layers highlighted by exactly the right, widely varying film techniques, made me aware, as are the film's characters of the theme of the work: "Am I living my own life?" "Can I make my decisions freely?" "Am I completely honest with myself?" In a friendly and impartial way the film invites me to confront this theme through the meanderings and the intertwinings threads of the fires of purgatory. The shot at the end really strikes home. We are left with the hope, that a courageous exposure of lies will lead us towards a true life.