Florian Opitz's SYSTEM ERROR: Another major and majorly important documentary hits DVD

To hear one of the barons of Brazilian agribusiness droning on about "progress" and the glories of BASF is to feel your very brain slipping away. And then this privileged asshole (shown below, TrustMovies believes) adds insult to injury by asking for "More profit boost, please!"

Ah, Capitalism! And growth. And the impossibility of continuous, sustained economic growth. Which is what SYSTEM ERROR, the latest documentary from German filmmaker Florian Opitz, is all about.

Herr Opitz, shown at left, has a lovely, gracious, never-intrusive way of making certain the camera (cinematography by Andy Lehmann, editing by Frank J. Müller) remains on the interviewee for a few seconds longer than might seem required, particularly when that interviewee is answering questions about, oh, say, the result to the environment or the economy and is clearly either outright fibbing or simply lying-by-omission.

Consequently, we have time to observe the face of said fibber in a quiet but clearly uncomfortable position. This happens a number of times, and each of these proves quite telling and, in its odd fashion, nastily entertaining. It's as though the prevaricator, so far as our learning the truth is concerned, has stuck his head in the noose and jumped off the chair.

It is by now clear to quite a number of the world's citizens that Capitalism has run its course and shown its true colors. "Financial markets are able to heal themselves," is one of my favorite quotes here, but the end of that statement, which might go something like, Sure -- when given a trillion-dollar-bailout by the government is nowhere to be found in the mouth of this particular money maven.

On the side of reality against conformity and propaganda is our ofttimes host, British economist Tim Jackson, of the University of Surrey. He keeps popping the balloons of one after another It's-as-clear-as-the-nose-on-your-face Capitalist propagandizers (consistent sleazebag and former Trump associate, Anthony Scaramucci is among these), who spout the prepared-and-typical only to be undercut by the ideas and statistics offered by the quiet Mr. Jackson (above).

Smart and highly appropriate quotes from a certain Karl Marx dot the documentary and are as pertinent as they are often surprising (unless, unlike me, you've read a ton of Mr. Marx). I rather wish that Opitz has not led off his film with so much info on the state of Brazil because, over the past three years since the film was made, much has changed there (for the worse), and the world is quite aware of all this. Yet even that section is interesting for the way in which Opitz conducts his interviews.

We hear about deregulation, the Flash Crash and other financial sector happenings along the way. By the time an ex-investment/trading guy, very high-level, tells us, "The idea that markets are somehow going to support a very large base of the population and somehow produce returns for that population -- when, in our space, all we try to do is eliminate those returns: I mean, that was our job. It's a very different world than is advertised to the general public," I suspect you will be ready to laugh in the face of those "investment" ads you see all the time on TV.

System Error is an absolutely terrific documentary: smart and measured and full of necessary information. Do stay through the end credits to hear Jackson quote the famous Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci about the particular combination of pessimism and optimism needed to perhaps survive our current time.

From Icarus Home Video, in English, German and Portuguese, with English subtitles as needed, and running 96 minutes, the movie hit home video on DVD at the end of last month and is available now for purchase (and rental via streaming, too). If you were unlucky enough to read the very foolish and dismissive NY Times review of System Error publised a few weeks ago, ignore that and take a chance on this very important film.

At NYC's Film Forum, Rüdiger Suchsland's treasure-trove of seldom-seen movies -- HITLER'S HOLLYWOOD: GERMAN CINEMA IN THE AGE OF PROPAGANDA: 1933 - 1945

History buffs, particularly film history aficionados, will likely revel in the new documentary opening at New York City's Film Forum this Wednesday, for it will opens the doors to what (for most of us non-Germans, at least) we have only heard of fleetingly and certainly never seen: those movies -- more than a thousand of them! -- produced by Nazi Germany during the Third Reich. Thanks also to Film Forum, we've seen a couple of documentaries over recent years that showed us some of the especially antisemitic movies the Nazis produced (two fine docs by Felix Moeller: Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Süss and Forbidden Films: The Hidden Legacy of Nazi Film), but this new one is like a deep dive -- psychologically and historically -- into a particular German cinema that, while plenty antisemitic, is also romantic, crazy, bizarrely funny and really quite sad. And sick.

Written and directed by Rüdiger Suchsland (shown at left), HITLER'S HOLLYWOOD: GERMAN CINEMA IN THE AGE OF PROPAGANDA, 1933 - 1945 proves an unveiling of the past that few of us (even, I suspect, younger generation Germans) will not have seen. Out of the hundreds of movies made under the Third Reich (many of which probably never survived) Herr Suchsland has chosen snippets from a very interesting array to tantalize us, as well as put forth some pretty compelling theories regarding what and why.  What did Nazi Germany dream about?" the director asks early on. Death is the answer. These movies are full of self-sacrifice and an almost mythical, mystical yearning for death.

But, golly, so many of these deaths were somehow "happy" ones -- at least in Nazi cinema. The movie never states this, but I could not help but wonder if Hitler and his closest crew -- Goebbels, Himmler and even Leni Reifenstahl -- somehow knew (and on some weird level even wanted this) that their whole enterprise was doomed from the start. When you dedicate everything to death, rather than life, what the hell are you actually asking for?

One of the many little jolts of recognition that arrive regularly throughout the film comes as Suchsland explains how almost completely devoid of irony and how full of "forced cheerfulness" Nazi movies are. You may remember at that point how often German cinema of the 40s, 50s and 60s was accused of having little sense of humor. Thankfully, that's no longer true (see Look Who's Back and Not My Day, for two very funny recent examples.)

Another example: As we watch those "amazing" parades of German youth dressed in military garb, Suchsland sums it all up: "Modern Synchronized movement. And future cannon fodder." Yes, death again.  There's even more "happy death," as we examine briefly Hitler's Euthanasia movement. And did you know that the German version of Titanic, while banned in its home country, was still allowed to be seen in the "occupied" territories?

Among the enormous number of directors, actors, and actresses who parade before us, several stand out, one of whom is described by Suchsland as "a Janus-headed artist stuck between collaboration and resistance," the work of whom Goebbels despised but Himmler loved. According to the filmmaker, one late-in-the-game movie -- Großstadtmelodie -- seems to actually defend the right to privacy and even happiness in the here and now! So take that, death-lovers!

How the filmmaking changed as Germany became ever-more Nazi, went to world war and then began to lose that war is captured via the parade of films we see. And while, along the way, you may wonder about some of Suchsland's conclusions, it is clear that this filmmaker knows a hell of a lot more about German filmmaking during this period that any of us, so it will be difficult to disagree with many of his conceptions. He makes a generally fine guide to a period of filmmaking in a specific place that many of us may imagine we know but until now, at least, have mostly been flying blind.

Hannah Arendt and her ideas make a helpful, thoughtful appearance or two, helping to stress Suchsland's major point: that a country's people can indeed become -- at least in their own mind and imagination -- the movies that they see. Hitler's Hollywood proves quite the  revelation; for anyone interested in the filmmaking of this time and place, it is not to be missed.

From Kino Lorber and running 105 minutes, the documentary opens in its U.S. theatrical premiere at New York City's Film Forum this Wednesday, April 11, for but a one-week-only engagement. It is also scheduled to be seen in Baltimore at the Parkway Theater, beginning April 27, and in Chicago at the Gene Siskel Film Center on May 11. Click here and scroll down to keep abreast of any further playdates, cities and theaters.

Felix Moeller's FORBIDDEN FILMS, the still-hidden legacy of Nazi cinema, gets a week's theatrical release -- free! -- at NYC's Film Forum

Felix Moeller is at it again. This German filmmaker and documentarian (I believe he is German but can find no city of birth listed for him anywhere) who in 2010 gave us the interesting documentary, Harlan -- In the Shadow of Jew Süss (all about the director of Jew Süss, one of the more infamous anti-Semitic German films made during World War II), has now gifted us with an even more interesting and important documentary that sheds light on the output of Nazi cinema during this fraught time.

His new work, FORBIDDEN FILMS: The Hidden Legacy of Nazi Film, tackles the what, why and how of this "charged" cinema. As Moeller tells us at the start of his doc, "Between 1933 and 1945, 1200 feature films were made in Germany. After the war, the Allies banned 300 of these as 'propaganda,' and 40 of them remain restricted today." Why this is so, and what could or should be done about it is Moeller's subject, and he offers up a number of worthwhile viewpoints -- from damn-the-torpedoes-and-just-show-these-films to a philosophy of keep-them-censored to something in between.

The bits and pieces we see of several of the movies -- in which the anti-Semitism and pseudo-history is said to be so well executed that the films need to stay censored -- simply make us even more interested in seeing the entire film, while the various talking heads (each of them intelligent, thoughtful and convincing) disagree on how best to handle the archive. (That's a still from The Rothschilds, above, and from Homecoming, below -- the latter of which actually manages to blame Poland for its conquest by the Nazis.

In addition to seeing clips from several of these "forbidden films," we also see and hear a series of talking heads (and sometimes complete bodies) that explain what the films accomplish and why, in some cases, their public screenings need to be at least "monitored." (Some, pirated, are already available to watch on YouTube, and are used to garner new members by various "hate" groups.)

One of the more disturbing sections of Moeller's movie lets us hear comments from viewers -- some informed by history, others not at all -- about their reactions to the films. Much of this is scary enough to make us better understand why the films have been out of circulation for so long. A French screening of the most notorious of the films (Jew Süss, 'natch) brings out a lot of smart comments from audiences young and old. Notes one person, "Capitalism is hidden behind this image, and then globalization."

We also are faced with the notion of how to "de-Nazify" the movies by editing them -- a very big mistake, I believe. By taking out certain portions, speeches or symbols, the films are de-balled, so to speak, leaving audiences to wonder what the fuss was all about and perhaps even more able to embrace their remaining muffled prejudices.

We learn something about the famous German movie stars of the period, including Emile Jannings (shown far left, of The Blue Angel fame) and his role in Uncle Krüger, and especially an actor less known to us Americans named Heinrich George, shown near left. Perhaps the most interesting portion of the film is devoted to a movie titled I Accuse, and how it was made to pave the way for the Nazi's use of euthanasia.

"Even the Nazis had pre-conditioned 'Christian' consciences," notes one interviewee, regarding the euthanasia push, "so immediately shoving all the 'crazies' into gas chambers would have been too much, even for them." It is quite moving and unsettling to hear the daughter of the late director of I Accuse talk about her father and the film itself before a modern audience of very mixed opinions! Finally, the response of the film's last interviewee will make you think hard.

No lesser "light" than the Nazi's Joseph Goebbels perfectly understood how movies could be the state's most effective form of propaganda, and he saw to it that this propaganda was created and executed on a populace that embraced it whole-hog -- a reaction not unlike America's to the recent Clint Eastwood movie, American Sniper. Back in the time of WWII, audiences of all ages flocked to film the way they do today to TV and (for younger folks, at least) the internet. Give uninformed and somewhat frightened audiences the chance to root for their own country -- whatever foul endeavor in which it might be engaged -- and you can be certain the majority will do just that. (Shown below is the archive where these Nazi films are currently kept.)

Overall, Forbidden Films  -- from Zeitgeist Films and running 94 minutes -- opens up so many disparate but necessary avenues of thought about what censorship is and when, if ever, it might be worthwhile, that it's a must-see. How very fine it is that this documentary (along with three screenings of the complete Jew Süss) will make its theatrical debut this Wednesday, May 13, at New York City's Film Forum, with free admission for all audiences -- including the special screenings of Jew Süss -- on a first-come/first served basis for its entire one-week run. This is thanks to both the Ostrovsky Family Fund and to the Joan S. Constantiner Fund for Jewish and Holocaust Films.

Special note: 

For Los Angeles-based viewers, the Laemmle chain 

will screen the documentary at all six of its venues 

at 7:30 PM on Monday, June 1, and at 1 PM on Tuesday, 

June 2, as part of its weekly series Culture Vulture.

For more information, click here.

For your July 4th weekend, Lutz Hachmeister's oddball THE REAL AMERICAN: JOE McCARTHY

The very title of this unusual -- in ways both good and bad -- documentary pulls us up short. What does THE REAL AMERICAN: JOE McCARTHY actually signify? That this guy could stand in for the "real" American, and if so, what the hell does that mean? That we're all a bunch of lying, cold-hearted opportunists willing to toss just about anyone (especially Democrats) in front of the bus? Well, maybe. That's pretty cynical. Well, yes, but since the film was directed, co-written and co-produced by a German fellow by the name of Lutz Hachmeister, who earlier gave us The Goebbels Experiment and the restaurant doc Three Stars, a more cynical look at America and Americans just might be in the cards.

Herr Hachmeister, pictured at right, has certainly done his homework concerning our Joe's history and actions, and has even gone a bit further behind of the scenes of our government and military at that time to bring to the fore some information buried more deeply than other films have shown us (including the documentary Point of Order, and a number of narrative movies in which old Joe played a supporting part). While his  "foreigner" status may have goosed Hachmeister to look at things differently, it may also have prevented him from seeing certain things as clearly as he might. Take Ann Coulter's place in all this, for instance. The director interviews Ms Coulter -- whom I consider one of the stupider mouthpieces of the frothing right-wing -- and then uses part of that interview in the film. But does he actually understand who Coulter is and what her place in American society might be? We've heard her on radio occasionally, spouting nonsense and lies -- such as her tirades about Obamacare last fall -- and we've waited for somebody to speak up and deflate the woman's shit balloon. But of course, on these right-wing radio fests, no one ever does. (For the best rendition yet of Ms Coulter, you really must see Thea Gill's interpretation of her in Joe Dante's sublime Iraq War sequence from the Masters of Horror series, entitled Homecoming.)

So here Coulter is yet again, above, spouting off about how "everything you've heard about McCarthy you have to hit the delete button on" (her quote is even used on the back of the DVD box), as though that is what we're about to discover from this documentary. But, hey, we discover no such thing. If anything, we learn even more about what an asshole McCarthy really was, how he consistently lied and pretended and led everyone from other elected officials to the public into thinking that our government was filled with Communist spies, in the process blithely destroying careers and lives along the way.

It is how our filmmaker shows us all this that gives me the most trouble. The Real American: Joe McCarthy is one of those documentaries that uses re-creations -- shown above (that's Joe as a young man) and below, with the would-be Roy Cohn at his side -- to bring to life its subject's story. And while these are well-acted enough, they stand out like the proverbial sore thumb -- in color, with all the 1950 trimmings of sets, clothes and so forth -- constantly calling attention to themselves in the worst way. Since Hachmeister's digging presents some fine archival footage and decent interviews with reporters, old friends of McCarthy, politicians and the like, why didn't he just stick with these rather than doing the "gussy-up" thing with the recreations?

If one is going to do this, do it cleverly and meaningfully like Sarah Polley manages in her excellent doc  Stories We Tell (streamable now on Netflix: click for the link). Shown against the real life footage of McCarthy, his wife Jean, the late Mr. Cohn and others, the actors (above) pale in comparison with their real-life counterparts (below) and don't really look much like them, either.

What the movie does give us, interestingly and well, is the story of how our own government, the CIA, and others were growing ever more annoyed and upset at what Joe was doing and saying, and so finally had to step in to stop it. All this is by far the most interesting of the "new" material the movie has to offer.

The McCarthy era is one that no truly patriotic American (and by that I mean the My country right or wrong: When right, to be kept right; when wrong, to be set right variety) would want to repeat. The Bush administra-tion tried to scare us into more of this with its stupid Iraq war and constant terrorism fears (ooooh: today is an orange alert!). It didn't work (not for long, anyway) and shouldn't ever be allowed to work again. We shall see.

Meanwhile, you can see The Real American: Joe McCarthy -- from Corinth Releasing and running 100 minutes -- on DVD by clicking here. It's worth a look and a thought about how this could happen then -- and what to do to make certain it doesn't happen again.

MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE, Marc Bauder's classy doc about a German sleaze, opens at AFA

What a guy! There will be times during the course of MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE -- the Austrian/German documentary in which ex-banker Rainer Voss tells a-lot-if-not-all about the current economic crisis as experienced from the European side -- when you'll feel like sticking your fingers into the eye sockets of Mr. Voss and simply pushing as hard as you can. Unless, of course, you yourself are a banker or European-equivalent Wall-Street sleaze. Then, depending on your particular level in the hierarchy, you'll do everything from snicker in fond reminiscence (if you were anywhere near Voss' level) or simply wave all this away as "old news" and utterly unimportant now (if you're closer to the top of your respective organization, à la  Lloyd Blankfein, CVS -- Chief Vampire Squid -- of Goldman-Sachs).

One of the more interesting scenes in this new film, released in Europe in the fall of last year, and now opening for a week's run here in New York City at Anthology Film Archives, is that involving Jérôme Kerviel and Société Générale, the French multinational banking and financial services company for whom Kerviel worked and was eventually convicted of fraudulent trading, even though he claimed his practices were widespread within the company, and that making a profit resulted in the hierarchy's turning a blind eye. Under a little pressure from the film's director and co-producer Marc Bauder (shown above), Voss explains why traders get punished while the higher-ups never do.

Voss (shown above and below) also explains that in the old days, not that many years ago, when a share in a particular company was purchased, it was held on to for an average of four years. In our current times, that average is 22 seconds. What's the point -- other than to make a quick buck -- and where does this leave the company and whatever work it is supposed to be accomplishing? The film takes place in an empty building, not that long ago abandoned, in which one of those huge international bank/financial services companies used to be housed. The cinematography (by Börres Weiffenbach) is aces down the line. This movie at times looks better even than Cosmopolis. And the accompanying music (by Bernhard Fleischmann) works very well, too. But the center, the dead heart of the film, is Herr Voss' narration.

This guy tells us all about how to gyp your client, then excuses himself, contradicts himself, makes more excuses, and finally goes silent. This happens periodically. "You're always trying to get more out of me!" he exclaims at one moment to someone we assume is the filmmaker. Well, yes: That's the point, dear. Herr Voss began his career at around the time computers first came upon the scene, and so he smartly acquainted himself with this new machine, which helped his rise in the industry. The film's first half takes us up to the crash, the second half covers post-crash.

We learn a lot of interesting stuff along the way about our new "banking and investment services" industry. Lesson one would be this: Just because a transaction is highly complicated doesn't mean that it makes any sense. Regarding whether or not we're remotely "out of the woods" just yet: "It's going to blow up in our face; there's no way this is going to have a happy end."  We see our own American Congressional hearing, as congressmen try to pin Goldman-Sachs employees to the wall, and later we watch one of those "We want to help YOU!" commercials for a new German bank.

"The bigger the shit, the thicker the Corporate Responsibility Brochure," remarks Voss. In that case, this guy's CRB should be thickest of all, for he comes across as one cynical, self-satisfied son-of-a-bitch. But a smart one, it must be said, and one who has helped further lift the cloak of secrecy from the worthless (except to itself, of course) industry that has wrecked -- and continues to keep wrecking -- the world economy.

Master of the Universe -- in some English but mostly in German with English subtitles and running 88 minutes -- opens this Friday, June 6 (D-Day!) in New York City at Anthology Film Archives. You can check for performances times, tickets and directions by clicking the appropriate link.

KHODORKOVSKY: Cyril Tuschi's look at the Russian oligarch & country's ex-richest man

I happened to read Steve Dollar's review of KHODORKOVSKY for Greencine earlier this week and was surprised to learn that Mr. Dollar was a complete newcomer to this Russian ex-oligarch/ex-richest man in the country. As Dollar himself explains it in his review, "In my blinkered perception of international affairs, I'd never even heard of Khodorkovsky. But that actually makes the documentary more fun to watch." I think he's absolutely right. TrustMovies has followed the Khodorkovsky story over the past several years -- and gosh darned if this movie about him didn't simply go over much of what I already knew. I kept waiting for some really juicy (or just interesting) additional information, but not a lot was forthcoming. And yet...

The documentary's writer/director, German filmmaker Cyril Tuschi (shown at right), probably made the correct decision in aiming for the audience who knows little to nothing about this unusual man -- and maybe little to nothing abut the state of Russia today: an iron-fist-inside-an-ever-more-threadbare-velvet-glove dictatorship. Is absolutely everyone easily "bought" in today's version of old Russia? Or maybe they're simply frightened into submission? With the few crusading journalists assassinated (or in danger of same), truth seems to be having as difficult a time rearing its little head as it did it those halcyon days of Pravda.

In any case, and in brief, Mr. Khodorkovsly (above) -- a few years back the richest man in Russia (and among the richest in the world) due to his ownership in the petroleum company Yukos -- ran afoul of current "dictator" (let's call a spade a garden tool) Vladimir Putin. Charges against him seemed (and still seem) bogus by any fair and just standard of which I'm aware, but he was tried, convicted and recently re-convicted of even more ridiculous charges (we'll leave the movie to fill you in with details).

All of this has been mulled over by our own media at some length, so filmmaker Tuschi tries to further interest us by combining some nice animation with his story (see poster, top), classing up his documentary with beautifully framed opening and closing shots and also -- the most interesting portion for me -- delving into the archives for some shots of Mr. Big as a boy, or at least as a very young man (above and below).

We hear from his mother and first wife and later from his eldest son (studying here in the USA), though nothing much that anyone says seems groundbreaking.  In fact, the biggest surprise in the movie is the "pet" that is evidently owned by one of the interviewees and is being fed during his interview (no spoilers here, either). And we see some interesting memorabilia (yup -- that's war criminal George and wife Laura, shown center, below).

Like a good documentarian, Mr. Tuschi tries his best to snag an interview with Putin (the famous caption from The New Yorker cartoon, "How about never. Is never good for you?", should come to mind here), but he does manage to speak with Ilya Yashim, an opposition politician. who tells us that Khodorkovsky has a bright future ahead. "He still says exactly what he said five years ago, and for that he deserves respect." (Particularly when, in our own country, politicians can't recall what they said five days ago -- or, if it's during a Republican debate, five minutes ago.)

The money shot, as it were, comes with the in-person interview that Tuschi finally obtains with his subject (that's K is in a glass booth, above). This, together with a couple of other pieces of interviews toward the finale -- one of which answers the question of why the man did not flee his country to safety elsewhere when he was given the opportunity -- gives us the picture of Khodorkovsky that I believe the filmmaker wants us to keep and cherish. And which I am certainly ready to do. This man is the rare, real thing: a genuine Russian patriot.

Khodorkovsky, from Kino Lorber Films (111 minutes), opens this Wednesday, November 30, for a two-week run at Film Forum in New York City. For screening times at FF,click here. To see a listing of all upcoming playdates, click here and then scroll down to the bottom of the screen.