Matthias Zuder
Austria, Germany | 2013 | 10 min
Language : German
Subtitles : English, French
An almost never-ending tracking shot. An enormous concrete monster built during the Nazi era that reminds us of the architectural folly of national-socialist ideology. A folly mirroring its murderous mindset. An abandoned cathedral lost and forgotten somewhere in a loophole of history. The cinematic and aesthetic gesture becomes a statement of critical analysis.
An almost never-ending tracking shot. A corridor. Somewhere in a forgotten no-man’s land. The tracking shot moves back towards the viewer. A hypnotic voiceover talks about the past and the lives that once were. It feels like a nightmare: there is no way out. You can not go anywhere else but back. The voice reminds you: “Es wird nie wieder weniger Vergangenheit geben” (There will never be less past again). At the end, a window. Cut. We see the building in which we were moving from outside. An enormous concrete monster built during the Nazi era that reminds us of the architectural folly of national-socialist ideology. A folly mirroring its murderous mindset. An abandoned cathedral lost and forgotten somewhere in a loophole of history. Matthias Zuder’s short film is a powerful aesthetic statement that, from a corridor behind the curtain of the German past, projects itself towards the present. The cinematic aesthetic gesture itself becomes a statement of critical analysis. Through the refusal of filmic conventions the director creates the possibility of a political alternative.
Giona A. Nazzaro