Mifune

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

A few months ago Marxism list subscriber Daniel O'Connell, who is now
gallivanting somewhere in Europe, told me about the Denmark-based Dogma 95
film-making movement. Last night I saw "Mifune", an officially approved
Dogma 95 movie. Before discussing this altogether enjoyable film, a few
words about Dogma 95 is in order. If you go to their website at
http://www.dogme95.dk, you will find a manifesto that states:

"In 1960 enough was enough! The movie was dead and called for resurrection.
The goal was correct but the means were not! The new wave proved to be a
ripple that washed ashore and turned to muck. Slogans of individualism and
freedom created works for a while, but no changes. The wave was up for
grabs, like the directors themselves. The wave was never stronger than the
men behind it. The anti-bourgeois cinema itself became bourgeois, because
the foundations upon which its theories were based was the bourgeois
perception of art. The auteur concept was bourgeois romanticism from the
very start and thereby ... false! "

Lars von Trier, one of the founders of the movement, is a red-diaper baby.
His mother was a Communist, his father a Social Democrat, and both worked
in Denmark's social-services ministry. According to a NY Times (Apr. 30,
2000) profile of von Trier and Dogma 95, they met during World War II in
Sweden after fleeing the Nazi occupation of Denmark, "my father because he
was Jewish and my mother because she was in the resistance." They were also
dedicated nudists (although less so than another relative von Trier
describes who kept his apartment warm and "was always completely naked, on
principle"). His childhood included occasional holidays at nudist camps.
"It was very strange," he says, "kind of charming."

In essence, the Dogma 95 school sought to achieve a kind of pristine
authenticity in film-making that had been lost through the introduction of
elaborate film-scores, cinematography, special effects, etc. It was no
accident that they likened their movement to a kind of Protestant challenge
to Catholic rococo excess. Denmark, after all, was one of the European
centers of hair shirt Calvinism. Leaving no room for misinterpretation, the
Dogmatists laid down strict rules about how to make a movie, which they
called "The Vow of Chastity":

"I swear to submit to the following set of rules drawn up and confirmed by
DOGME 95:

1. Shooting must be done on location. Props and sets must not be brought in
(if a particular prop is necessary for the story, a location must be chosen
where this prop is to be found).
2. The sound must never be produced apart from the images or vice versa.
(Music must not be used unless it occurs where the scene is being shot). 3.
The camera must be hand-held. Any movement or immobility attainable in the
hand is permitted. (The film must not take place where the camera is
standing; shooting must take place where the film takes place).
4. The film must be in colour. Special lighting is not acceptable. (If
there is too little light for exposure the scene must be cut or a single
lamp be attached to the camera).
5. Optical work and filters are forbidden.
6. The film must not contain superficial action. (Murders, weapons, etc.
must not occur.)
7. Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden. (That is to say that
the film takes place here and now.)
8. Genre movies are not acceptable.
9. The film format must be Academy 35 mm.
10. The director must not be credited.

Furthermore I swear as a director to refrain from personal taste! I am no
longer an artist. I swear to refrain from creating a "work", as I regard
the instant as more important than the whole. My supreme goal is to force
the truth out of my characters and settings. I swear to do so by all the
means available and at the cost of any good taste and any aesthetic
considerations. Thus I make my VOW OF CHASTITY."

Copenhagen, Monday 13 March 1995
On behalf of DOGME 95
Lars von Trier Thomas Vinterberg

* * * *

Turning now to "Mifune", directed by Lars von Trier, you are essentially
presented with a film that makes the most of a natural setting, namely a
ramshackle farm in the Danish countryside. This is not a film set, but an
old house that von Trier discovered. It was a perfect find since much of
the film's magic is associated with the play of sunlight in the interiors
of the house and on the surrounding fields, all of which evokes a Van Gogh
painting.

The plot is a variation on "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" or "Queen of
Hearts" as Kresten (Anders W. Berthelsen), a middle-class businessman from
Copenhagen, is forced to cope with the care of his simple-minded and
mentally ill brother Rud (Jesper Asholt) after the death of their father at
the family farm.

The title of the film is drawn from a game Kresten plays to amuse his
brother when he is agitated. He pretends to be Toshiro Mifune, a "Samovar"
warrior. After putting a metal pot on his head and wrapping himself in a
sheet, he stamps the ground while grimacing and growling in mock-Japanese.

While his original plans called for staying at the farm for no more than a
day or so, Kresten finds himself drawn into the upkeep of the farm and the
care of his long-forgotten brother. This is not an easy task since Rud
marches to his own drummer. When he is not spinning out tales about the
impending arrival of UFO's that are coming to the farm to take him away, he
is stealing his Kresten's money to buy thousands of lottery tickets that he
hides in his underwear.

To help him cope with all this, Kresten hires a housekeeper from the city
named (Iben Hjejle), a prostitute fleeing a nasty pimp and a psychopathic
telephone stalker. They are eventually joined by her foul-mouthed
chain-smoking younger brother Bjarke (Emil Tarding), who has been thrown
out of boarding school for bad behavior. Even though she is constantly
being provoked to the point of distraction by Bjarke herself, she is deeply
devoted to him. During a session with one of her johns, she discovers that
the wealthy client has had a role in Bjarke being caned at the boarding
school. Her response is to knock him to the floor and to pee on an
expensive Persian rug he dotes on while he watches helplessly.

The two brothers, the woman and her brother interact with each other
through the remainder of the film in the rooms and fields of the ramshackle
farmhouse. Using natural light, hand-held cameras and a total absence of
music, Von Trier creates a magical world. The conflicts and harmony of the
four characters can only be described as something out of a Mozart opera or
Chekhov play, as the sharply defined characters evoke in each other
responses that nobody--including the audience--could have predicted at the
outset.

"Mifune" is now available in video. I strongly recommend it and any chance
you get to see the following films, which have received the stamp of
approved from Dogma 95 and are likely to be available at some point in
video format or in art theater revivals:

1. Julien Donkey-Boy (USA, Directed by Harmony Korine
2. The Idiots (Denmark, Directed by Lars von Trier)
3. Breaking the Waves (Denmark, Directed by Lars von Trier)


Louis Proyect

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