RIP Bruno Ganz

The great Swiss actor Bruno Ganz has died at the age of 77 from colon cancer.

Ganz will perhaps best be remembered for playing Hitler in the 2004 film Downfall, which many cite as the definitive portrayal of the monster. But I first come across his talents in Wim Wenders' 1977 film The American Friend (an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's Ripley's Game) in which he played opposite Dennis Hopper. He was also the star of Wenders' much loved 1987 film Wings of Desire, and its sequel Faraway, So Close in 1993. Ganz was so feted in Germany that he was the holder of the prestigious Iffland-Ring, a prize given to the most significant and worthy German-speaking actor.

Other credits included Herzog's Nosferatu the Vampire, The Boys from Brazil, The Manchurian Candidate, The Baadar Meinhof Complex, The Reader, Unknown and The Party.

RIP

A History Lesson For Boris Johnson

He's spent the week comparing Russia's hosting of the World Cup to Nazi Germany's 1938 Olympics, so it's time to remind him of a couple of things:

1) 20 million Russians were killed fighting the Nazis during World War II, so to liken them to Hitler's Nazis is both ignorant and disgusting.

2) Here's a photograph...

It shows the England football team ahead of a game in Berlin in the '38 Olympics, giving the Nazi salute.

They were instructed to perform the salute by the then British government...which was, of course, the Conservative party.

But what about the Russians, you might ask, did they give the Nazi salute to appeal to their hosts too?

Um no, Russia opted to boycott the '38 Olympics, seeing Nazism for exactly what it was.

Let's Not Kid Ourselves About Trump

In the aftermath of last week's astounding election result in the US, I've seen an awful lot of people try and justify Trump's eligibility for office by pointing out the good things he's said, claiming that he's not as mad as we may have perhaps thought or saying that the more outlandish things he campaigned for won't become a reality because 'the most powerful man in the world' isn't actually all that powerful. 

It's understandable to do this, it's a sign of people trying to come to terms with what has happened, be optimistic and soften the blow. 

But we cannot just strip away or overlook the xenophobia, the racism, the misogyny, the disability discrimination, the jingoism that Trump has so flagrantly displayed and focus solely on his supposed good qualities. It is the attributes, both good and bad, that makes the man that is Donald Trump and we should never forget, ignore or condone the very worst aspects of his character because he may have said or done something tolerable to us. Even the very darkest hearts have some light.

After all, Hitler loved his dogs.

What Has Become Of Us?

The news that UKIP's leader Diane James is to stand down from her role after just eighteen days ought to be the kind of news that sparks celebration - the thought of UKIP, those dangerous right wing racists, imploding is excellent news.

However, what mars this welcome prospect is the fact that the present Tory government have out UKIPPED the most deranged UKIPPERS.

In conference this week, the Tories have announced the kind of stark hard line on immigration and ethnic minorities usually seen in the most extreme of fascist juntas. Companies are to declare how many foreigners are in their employ, taxi drivers must provide their immigration status, fewer migrants will be allowed to study at our universities and, most damning of all, foreign doctors are to be 'phased out' of the NHS.

Oh, and along with the plans for grammar schools, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has launched a scheme that will see 150 new units of army cadets in British schools.

Um, I don't know about you - but isn't this screaming the policies of Hitler's Nazi Germany?? But if that's your first reaction, don't worry Fallon's got it covered - he's launched the scheme at a Birmingham school where the majority are Muslim pupils, so you see they believe it is for us to criticise them for the anti-immigration fascists they are when they're surrounding themselves with olive skinned faces. 

And, like Hitler, the reason for this anti-immigration stance is seemingly to protect and preserve our 'strong' economy during these difficult times. It always amazes me that the public opinion seems to be that you cannot trust a Labour government with the economy, when the truth is that the Tories have presided over the slowest economic growth since the 1920s. And crucially, the Tories continue to get it wrong over the economy - if mass immigration is a threat to it, then how come America and Germany prosper? The answer is of course that it is not a threat at all. Like UKIP before them, Theresa May's Tory government have decided to use immigration and ethnic diversity as a scapegoat to blame all the ills of society upon. Ills that they and their ridiculous policies are the real perpetrators of.

The only thing that has changed in the hardline right wing Tory party over the years is that they've got significantly better at masking their disgusting, racist views.

We need to be rid of this government at the first available opportunity. We don't want to live in a country that elects to turn its back on the prosperous reality of immigration. We don't want to live in a country that is short sighted enough to turn its back on the skillset and knowledge base inherent in our NHS simply because they're provided by people of a different skin tone or with a different accent to us.

Please, vote and support Labour. Vote and support anyone in fact. Just don't vote and support a party that wishes to do this to our country.

Wordless Wednesday : Bring Me The Head Of Adolf Hitler

Mädchen In Uniform (1931)

When reading and subsequently making this list on Letterboxd of the BFI's 30 best LGBT films, I was surprised and somewhat ashamed to see how few I'd actually seen. One that did immediately catch my eye in that list was the 1931 German film Mädchen In Uniform on which the BFI had the following to say;

What would queer cinema look like now if the Nazis hadn’t stopped its first nascent flowering? This film is spot on about the intoxicating love that teenage girls feel, but I also admire how it handles Fräulein von Bernburg’s love for Manuela too. She is not immune to Manuela’s affections and has a hard time managing her own feelings.

—Tricia Tuttle

Revolutionary spirit borne of intense erotic lesbian attachment and female solidarity.

—Richard Dyer

A film so explicit yet made in the early 30s? Not only that, but an explicit film made just two years before Hitler became Chancellor in Germany and began to shape the country to his own fascist ideals. I had to see this, and thankfully I found a subtitled version of it on YouTube. Though admittedly the English subtitles really lessen the impact of this work - more of that later.

Sensitive Manuela (Hertha Thiele) has just lost her mother and is sent to a strict boarding school for the daughters of Prussian officers. Relieved to find her fellow girls are a rambunctious lot, she is informed by ringleader Ilse (Ellen Schwanneke) that she has been fortunate enough to have been placed under the care of Fräulein von Bernburg (Dorothea Wieck), a beautiful young teacher who elicits the budding teen passions of every girl in school.  The recently bereaved Manuela seems especially desperate for the affections of the idolised  Fräulein who, to her surprise, reciprocates by giving Manuela the nurturing she desires. What follows is a battle of wills between Emilia Unda's stern headmistress, who believes that her young girls would be best shaped for the glorious future of Prussia by strict discipline and hunger, and Fräulein von Bernburg’s softer, more caring approach that looks set to cross boundaries in Manuela's case at least.

The film was based on the novel and play by lesbian author Christa Winsloe. Directed by Leontine Sagan, it was released in 1931 to enormous success - clearly this polemic against the strict Prussian education system struck a chord - and now it seems culturally significant not just for its strong anti-fascist message, so vital as the nation faced the rise of Hitler, but for its innovative all-female cast and its unabashed pro-lesbian storyline. Watching many films made in the 1920s and '30s can be an arduous experience today as we wince at their creaky nature and strict adherence to the Hays Code morals of the day, so it really is quite an astonishing and somewhat mind blowing experience to view Mädchen In Uniform; a film which portrays lesbianism at an all girls boarding school as the unapologetic norm. The film never once goes down the route of this being a phase, of the girls indulging in such relationships simply because of the lack of men in their lives, it is what it is and it is introduced almost immediately and in the most refreshing matter of fact manner. Mädchen In Uniform is the kind of film you would imagine could only have been made in the Europe of the 1960s or '70s, and even then you would imagine its content would only be handled in a strange, experimental manner. Even today, in 2016, films as honest as Mädchen In Uniform are all too rare.

But it's important to remember that the conflict presented within Mädchen In Uniform is not borne of the fact that Manuela is expressing feelings of love towards von Bernburg (after all, all the girls freely admit they have a crush on her and all eagerly line up at bedtime to receive a kiss goodnight from her which they cherish)  but rather that she is expressing feelings of any kind. Under the headmistresses gimlet eyed gaze, all love appears to be forbidden and considered a weakness if their nation is to be string again with this new generation they are shaping. The film highlights how the education system in a fascist regime will crush all expressions of emotion and tellingly, thanks perhaps to the English language subtitles imposing their own meaning onto the events, it is Fräulein von Bernburg who comes into direct conflict with the headmistress for showing affection to Manuela, rather than Manuela coming under fire because she is a lesbian. 

In this subtitled version the film's pivotal scene, during a party following the successful performance of the works of Schiller during an open day, sees a drunk on punch Manuela declare "Our beloved Fräulein von Bernburg lives! Long may she live!" and therefore endure the wrath of the headmistress. When in actual fact the German translation of that scene, the original intention, is that Manuela declares her love for her tutor right there in front of everyone. Why this change, I do not know. It may be that the subtitles date from a period that was still morally aghast at depicting the explicit nature of this 'foreign film' - with all the implications that term can so often carry; how things are done 'differently' abroad -  or it may be that the lesbian theme was purposefully made second fiddle to the anti-fascist theme that, following the war, was probably deemed more significant. This meddling does not however detract from the fact  that Manuela’s feelings toward Fräulein von Bernburg are most unreservedly romantic; the two even share a kiss, as well as a petticoat.

Despite this, Fräulein von Bernburg’s own feelings towards her charge can be considered a little more vague at times, leaning towards affection and sympathy for this new girl who has so recently lost her mother. However, look at those final scenes; how she screams her name as the door opens, hoping it is Manuela once more but finding it to be the headmistress, or how plainly the link between them is made during the crucial denouement, thanks to some nifty camera trickery that briefly morphs her face to that of her student when she realises she may be in danger.

Mädchen In Uniform is a truly gorgeous film with some excellent and innovative cinematography, and some brilliant performances from the likes of Hertha Thiele, Dorothea Wieck and the mischievous Ellen Schwanneke that are far more authentic than some screen performances dating from this period. I heartily recommend this film.

Italian For Beginners

Ah the confidence of a redneck American! Brad Pitt, Inglorious Basterds

A Pain In The Arse

Genuine Hitler pin cushion from 1941