Square of Heroes, 12th of March 1988
It was by no means a coincidence that 1988 was when the young Viennese film-maker Johannes Rosenberger became known to a broader public. 1988 was the "year of remembrance," with which the political leaders recalled the "Anschluss" - the political integration of Austria into the German "Reich" - 50 years before, and the time when conflicts about Kurt Waldheim´s presidency were particularly virulent. This was the year in which Johannes Rosenberger´s two most energetic films were made: Subcutan, a furious, caustic portrait of Vienna, and Heldenplatz, 12. März 1988, a short filmed dirge which was originally part of Subcutan and later shown at cinemas before the main feature of the day. It is obvious that both films are reference points and the product of personal soul-searching. Subcutan is a first product of the creative tensions in Austrian experimental film-making which draws its inspiration primarily from everyday Viennese monstrosities and archetypes; wether fish from the Danube on blood-soaked walls or frivolous glimpses into the vistas of Catholic desire, well-known Viennese stereotypes are filmed through a cinematographic shredder, set into sparkling fragments and unexpectedly brought to life. The political and the aesthetic enter into blazing competition. This conspicuous principle achieves furious greatness in Heldenplatz, rises to a self-reflective crescendo, filmed on the 50th anniversary of the "Anschluss" against the background of an anti-Waldheim demonstration, with a Nazi propaganda song as a hysterical farewell - a recursive political statement which really "gets at you" - violent, unequivocal: triumphant destruction. (Constantin Wulff)
Constantin Wulff: Johannes Rosenberger - Triumphale Zerstörungen
Beide Filme, das ist unschwer zu erkennen, sind Standortbestimmungen, persönliche Bestandsaufnahmen: SUBCUTAN eine "erste Bilanz im Spannungsfeld des hiesigen experimentellen Filmschaffens", die sich vornehmlich (und leidenschaftlich) an Wiener Alltags-Monströsitäten und Archetypen entzündet - ob Donaufische an blutenden Zimmerwänden oder frivole Einblicke in katholische Sehnsuchts-Landschaften: bekannte Wiener Stereotypen werden durch einen kinematographischen Reißwolf gedreht, zu funkelnden Fragmenten montiert und zu unerwartetem Leben erweckt. Das Politische und das Ästhetische treten in funkensprühende Konkurrenz: ein augenfälliges Prinzip, das in HELDENPLATZ zu wütender Größe gefunden hat - ein selbstreflexives Crescendo, aufgenommen an jenem fünfzig-Jahre-danach-Märztag vor dem Hintergrund einer Anti-Waldheim-Demonstration; ein Nazi-Propagandalied als hysterischer Abgesang; ein kreisendes, selbstreflexives politisches Statement, das "unter die Haut" geht, brachial, unmißverständlich: Triumphale Zerstörung. (1994)
Heldenplatz, 12. März 1988
1988 - 1991
Austria
3 min