The Video Essay is a joint project of MUBI and FILMADRID International Film Festival. Film analysis and criticism found a completely new and innovative path with the arrival of the video essay, a relatively recent form that has already its own masters and is becoming increasingly popular. The limits of this discipline are constantly expanding; new essayists are finding innovative ways to study the history of cinema working with images. With this non-competitive section of the festival both MUBI and FILMADRID will offer the platform and visibility the video essay deserves. The seven selected works will be premiering online from June 6 - 12, 2022 on MUBI's Notebook. The selection was made by the programmers of MUBI and FILMADRID.
Helmut's Triumph by Francisco Noronha
How can the Nazi psyche and praxis adapt and disguise themselves in a democratic society? This video essay offers a reflection on how this occurs in Martha (1973), a Sirkian melodrama directed by Rainer W. Fassbinder for German television. Here, the trace of Nazism’s contamination emerges by the power of metaphor, as is usual in the work of the German filmmaker. The character of Helmut Salomon is the walking metaphor that Fassbinder builds to represent the normalization and dissimulation of the post-Nazi ideology within a new democratic and tolerant society. As a metonymic figure of this normalizing process, Helmut interests us, therefore, from his individual psychology; that is, from the way he relates to others (especially Martha, his wife) and embodies the tics associated with the legacy of Nazi horror. Alain Resnais, Billy Wilder, and Jean-Luc Godard are also called to action.
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¿Cómo pueden adaptarse y disfrazarse la psique y la praxis nazis en una sociedad democrática? Este vídeo ensayo ofrece una reflexión sobre cómo en Martha (1973), un melodrama sirkiano dirigido por Rainer W. Fassbinder para la televisión alemana, la huella de la contaminación del nazismo emerge a través del poder de la metáfora, como es habitual en la obra del cineasta alemán. El personaje Helmut Salomon es la metáfora andante que Fassbinder construye para representar la ideología posnazi y su normalización/enmascaramiento dentro de una nueva sociedad democrática y tolerante. Como figura metonímica de este proceso normalizador, Helmut nos interesa, por tanto, desde su psicología individual, es decir, desde la forma en que se relaciona con los demás (especialmente con Martha, su mujer) y encarna los tics asociados a la herencia del horror nazi. Alain Resnais, Billy Wilder, y Jean-Luc Godard también se traerán a colación.