The dark and poetic visions of Czech writer and unlikely national hero Franz Kafka have often lent themselves to screen adaptations, but filmmakers Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet’s take on Amerika remains one of the most faithful to Kafka’s frustrating existential battle.

Moving away from the turmoil of an individual oppressed by a faceless authority, Class Relations seamlessly shifts the paranoia and overbearing bureaucracy to the realm of class struggle, where capitalism quashes all that comes up against it. Perfectly capturing the sense of hopelessness and lack of freedom that Kafka’s works ooze, Class Relations won multiple awards upon its release in the early 80s. –MIFF

Director

Danièle Huillet

Daniele Huillet was a German filmmaker best known for her close collaboration, so close that it is often uncredited, with Modernist director Jean-Marie Straub. According to Huillet, she is mainly in charge of sound and editing while her partner deals with camera work, but she also assists with script-writing and directing. The films of Huillet and Straub are usually based on and offer historical insight into high German literature or music. Films such as Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach (1968) tend to be so intellectually demanding that they are rarely seen commercially, and are primarily to be found on the international festival circuits. Many of their works also tend to make strong political statements such as their examination of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Fortini (1976).

(From http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=2:95128)

Jean-Marie Straub

Filmmaker Jean-Marie Straub and Daniele Huillet, his wife and co-director, have become leading figures in New German cinema. Their films are not for passive viewers seeking light entertainment; films such as Not Reconciled or Only Violence Helps Where Violence Rules (1965) are intellectually demanding, and yet are among the most haunting films of German cinema. Prior to teaming up with Huillet, the French born Straub worked as an assistant to French directors such as Abel Gance, Jean Renoir, and Robert Bresson. He met and teamed up with Huillet in 1954. To avoid the draft, he fled to Munich, Germany in 1958 where they got involved with radical theater groups. By the early sixties he and his wife had become a prominent directors. They made their debut with the short Machorka-Muff in 1963. In 1968, their long-time friend Fassbinder appeared in The Bridegroom, the Comedienne and the Pimp. Straub and Huillet’s most famous film is Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (1968). By the late ’60s… read more

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Felipe Andrade

23Jan12

a 1ª adaptação de obra de Kafka que vi, logo senti que esta é uma das melhores. Transmite com bastante fôlego a atmosfera dele, um filme perfeito em sua proposta. O elenco também é excelente.