Tag Archives: Performance

Song and Performance Among Refugees

Posted on by
Reply

The above screenshot from Fire at Sea is taken from the scene of the film in which a Nigerian man and other refugees being processed are singing a song that tells the story of their journey.

Because the medium of the retelling is in the form of a song, it can be related to the broader theme of performance discusses previously in classes. Sung by refugees to the camera and the film’s audience, this song is a direct performance targeted at the viewer. It is more than a speech and is displayed in such a way as to stir emotions. Seeing that this is the goal of the film as a whole (stirring emotions and generating awareness for the conditions of refugees on the island), there should be no surprise as to why the film’s creators chose to include this scene in the final cut. It serves as a perfect example of performance within film, especially for a documentary.

Analyzing the shot in particular, the Nigerian man telling the group’s story is much closer to the camera compared to the rest of the singers. Taking approximately one quarter of the screen, he is the center of focus all while being at the side of the shot to simultaneously give the audience a feel of the rest of the room, along with the emotions and passion of the other refugees aboard.

To Be Or Not To Be Funny

Posted on by
Reply

Blog Post 2

The still frame I chose to analyze is this here, taking place in the first scene of the film. I think the scene and this particular shot are crucial in establishing the black humor of the film and the concept of performance. Before this shot there is a narration about something crazy everyone is running to see, it shows the faces of multiple citizens with looks of astonishment, surprise, and fear. After a great build up the camera pans right to this, Adolf Hitler in full uniform standing in the middle of public. People run up behind him but stop just feet away, and stare at the man as if he’s an alien. The narrator then goes from building viewer’s suspense and anticipation to jokingly calling him, “The man with the little mustache, Adolf Hitler.” Up to this point the narrator and the visuals are all quite serious, then this Hitler based black comedy joke comes up, and the entire rest of the sequence talks about Hitler in a light, joking manor. The rest of the film also has this sort of black humor, and I think this is a perfect way to introduce audiences to a sort of comedy they might not be comfortable with/accustomed to, but will be quite present in the film. The shot also starts off a major aspect of the film, performance. Not only are their actors and characters of varying nationalities in this film, but there are multiple instances of one character pretending to be another. This is our first taste of it, the character Bronski pretending to be Hitler (fun fact the actor who played Bronski was Irish-American so that’s interesting). On top of that the narrator and the film itself play more jokes with the audience, letting you believe it’s actually Hitler for about another two minutes. Personally, I think this was a great “kill two birds with one stone” situation where the director could perfectly introduce us to to major themes of the film within a minute.

Bawnjorno

Posted on by
Reply

Throughout the film performances are being put on by various characters to ensure the success of operation kino.  Due to the German speaking bastards being caught, these Americans have to portray Italians in order to get into the premiere of the film.  This scene built up all the tension from before because the cover that was in place was once very believable and is now at the hands of unqualified Americans.  This meme pokes fun at not only the circumstances that the bastards are in but the fact that Americans are really bad at speaking other languages without using the American alphabet and accent.  You can tell with how Col Landa is mocking their accents in this scene when he makes them repeat their name several times egging them on to put everything they have into it. Col Landa himself shows that he speaks Italian which shows the audience not only how clever he is as a man but how screwed the bastards are and the eventual death that occurs with Bridget.

 

Transit: the Strains of Performance

Posted on by
Reply

While almost the entirety of Transit centers around Georg’s performance as the writer figure, this clip is selected because it can show the viewer the strains that come with pretending to be someone you are not for too long. His actual performances can be seen when interacting with the police and consulate officials in other scenes, but this is where the mask comes off; when he finally retires and is all alone, Georg finds the writer’s character becoming bland where it once fascinated him. It has effectively become normalized in his mind.

All of the information in this scene, however, comes from the narrator instead of from George himself. This is the case for much of the film, but I believe it is being used perfectly here. As Georg has effectively become a refugee or person in transit, he requires someone else to tell his story for him. Perhaps this speaks to the real world, where the lives of migrants are rarely ever told from their own lips. This effect is of course amplified by the fact that in other scenes, the narrator refers to himself as “I” but to Greorg as “he,” indicating that the narrator is a person other than the protagonist. This is a sort of combination of first-person and third-person point of view that adds to the story of the film as one of a migrant, almost without a voice.

The Reunion of Travelers, Transit

Posted on by
Reply

Throughout the film Transit, written and directed by Christian Petzold, we follow a German refugee named Georg as he escapes Paris and flees to Marseille. While in Marseille he meets a number of other refugees, but Georg is shown to be a bit different from them. He calls Marseille a “port city”, and all the travelers in it have stories to tell about their great escape to the port. He doesn’t want to hear anybody’s tales of survival and he doesn’t want to share his own. At one point a woman with two dogs sits with Georg. He asks her nothing, but she nevertheless rambles on about saving the dogs and fleeing for her life. Georg doesn’t care about her or the dogs or the story, and he promptly leaves. Fast forward in the film and Georg is still trying to leave Marseille, but now he has made a number of friends in the city. As he walks alone down the empty streets the same woman he met earlier approaches him. She no longer has the dogs, but openly invites Georg to eat lunch with her. He is surprised but accepts. Upon sitting down the quiet Georg starts to talk while the usually talkative woman says nothing. He asks about the dogs, and all she’ll say is that they’re gone. Georg tries to respond but the woman cuts him off, saying that she doesn’t want to talk, she just wants someone to eat with so she won’t be alone. I believe this scene is beautiful because it shows the growth of two characters and how they have almost swapped mindsets. Initially the woman babbles on about her story even though Georg couldn’t care less and just wants to sit in silence. Once Georg has had a few experiences of his own and the two meet again he’s the one who tries to talk to diffuse tension, while she just wants to enjoy the silence together. I think it shows in a wonderful way how traumatic events can change anyone and everyone’s way of acting and treating people, and that when two people have gone through horrible times, it might just be best to sit in silence.

Your Number Please

Posted on by
Reply

This scene is particularly interesting in the terms of refugees and performance throughout the film.  To start this scene, Georg is playing the role of Weidel, the poet that died at the beginning of the movie.  Throughout the clip we see why it is important for him to play this role if he has any hopes of leaving this port town.  When he mentions the name Weidel he is immediately brought back to see a different man and given transit passes. This shows how corrupt the refugee process was and how one had to have money and know people if they ever wanted to get out.  If he had not known this person he would have been simply categorized and given to the next person to wait in line for like the other characters we see in the waiting rooms throughout the movie.  Another interesting part of this clip is the number that the worker is insisting on.  It is written on a small ripped up piece of paper and he requires to see it before saying anything.  When he does see the number he does nothing with it but throw it in a desk making it seem not important just another way to try and delay the process if people loose their number.

The camera angles in the clip switch pretty rapidly between shots of Georg’s face and the workers face allowing the audience to see everyone’s reactions but also create a tension on if his playing of Weidel is going to do anything for him or if he will be caught impersonating someone else.  This adds to the suspension of this scene both of the performance aspect but also what will come to the refugees and what processes do they have to go through.

Performance of an Empire

Posted on by
Reply

In this screenshot we Joseph Tura, dressed as the Nazi Colonel Ehrhardt, about to reenter the room that he left Professor Siletsky in. I believe that this screenshot speaks to the performance aspect of the movie. In my opinion, I believe that Lubitsch is speaking about the performative aspect that Nazi government utilized to draw support from the citizens of Germany and scare the rest of the world. During the Third Reich, there were many parades that involved Nazi soldiers and senior officers marching and putting on a performance for the public to gain support. Officers became famous to the public in Germany and outside of Germany, much like an actor does. By having Tura, an actor, impersonate Colonel Ehrhard, I believe Lubitsch is demonstrating his opinion that when it comes down to it, the Third Reich is in a sense a giant play, granted a giant play that committed horrible crimes against humanity, but a giant play none the less and the Nazi symbols and uniforms are nothing more than just props and costumes, as demonstrated by Tura leaving from the seating area of the theater, where a play would be watched, wearing a literal Nazi costume. News of a well produced performance can spread and reach many people far from the performance. For many people during this time, news of the Nazi parades and their might shown through their “performance” reached many countries. This is displayed by the shadows cast by the other actors and Sobinski who are also dressed as Nazi soldiers. Their shadows are present on the wall and are one of the main focal points. I am of the opinion that this symbolizes how the might of the Third Reich that was displayed through these “performances” casted a shadow on the rest of Europe.

You Are What You Eat

Posted on by
Reply

The scene that I wanted to dive deeper into is in the beginning of the film when Greenberg turns to Mr. Rawitch and tells him “what you are, I wouldn’t eat.”  What is interesting in this scene is that it is the first major clue that Mr. Greenberg, besides his name, is a Jewish character and is performing ethnicity throughout the film.  The line is inferring the Mr. Rawitch is a ham, which in the acting industry means that he is very dramatic and thinks he’s the most important character. Although Mr. Greenberg does not mention him being a ham, he gets the reference right away, signalling that the characters know that he is Jewish.  This is one of the three main hints that he is playing a Jewish character in the film and the one that sticks out the most to me. In this scene the camera is centered straight on at the two actors, but instead of Mr. Rawitch looking at Mr. Greenberg he is looking at the camera which reinforces what Mr. Greenberg is saying.  He is always trying to get screen time and or thinks he is better than the other characters and won’t look at them unless they make claims about him. After Mr. Rawitch comes back saying “How dare you call me a ham,” the camera cuts quickly to another part of the stage which doesn’t let the joke or line linger and receive an audience reaction as much as it would otherwise.  I think this technique makes you think about the line more than you would have given there be a pause there and it doesn’t give room for the line to be perceived as a joke but rather characterization that factors into Mr. Greenberg’s final monologue and his performance in general.

Siletsky: A not-so-clueless Nazi?

Posted on by
Reply

This still captures a moment that occurs just past the halfway point in the film, during which Professor Siletsky unravels Joseph Tura’s performance as Colonel Ehrhardt. At this point in the film, Tura has betrayed his identify by overreacting to Siletsky’s confession about Maria Tura’s infidelity. This moment complicates Lubitsch’s satirization of Nazis as easily-fooled and performative followers of an insubstantial political regime.  

Professor Siletsky is one of few, if not the only Nazi to demonstrate a convincing loyalty to the political party. He was seemingly genuine in his testimony to Maria Tura about Nazi ‘principles’ and ‘humanity,’ and here acts in accordance with loyalty to the party by exposing Joseph Tura and attempting to escape the theatre. Siletsky, unlike many of the Nazis in the film, fully believes in Naziism. Further, he sees through Joseph’s performance as Colonel Ehrhardt and soon bursts out of the staged room and into the theatre beyond, exemplifying his priviness to the act. Though he had earlier been fooled by Maria Tura’s performance as a dewy-eyed dame, Siletsky now disobeys the clueless Nazi trope Lubitsch has constructed in the film.  

Having gained the upper hand in this shot, Siletsky stands in the foreground and towers above the freshly-exposed Joseph Tura who sits in the background. Behind him, Tura’s stage becomes clear – the curtains fall behind him as if they were theatre curtains closing in on his act. Siletsky gazes down at Tura who looks nervously up at him. Since Siletsky stands to the left, our eye naturally follows his stare down from left to right. If one were to trace this gaze with a pen, the line would would pass through the swastika on the wall, as if Siletsky were looking through the Nazi front Tura has constructed. Whether they are due to Tura’s inadequacy as an actor, or to Siletsky’s true perceptiveness, Siletsky’s actions in this scene complicate Lubitsch’s satirization of Nazis in To Be or Not to Be. 

Performers in the Position of Resistance

Posted on by
Reply

In this shot from Lubitsch’s To Be or Not to Be, the Polish protagonists are seen engaging in active resistance against Nazi occupation. Joseph Tura has disguised himself as SS Colonel Ehrhardt and is in the middle of finding the location of Nazi spy Professor Siletsky’s intelligence. Periodically, such as in the still above, Tura must retreat into the back of the theater where the rest of the production are standing by to give him further instructions, which he regularly needs.

This is a satirical take by Lubitsch on performers and actors. The actor playing the role of the Colonel may believe he plays his part well but struggles to perform outside of what has been given to him by the director waiting on the other side of the door. It is also important to note, however, that this gaffe does not in any way diminish the plight of the Polish people. The viewer understands the stakes of the mission they have given themselves, especially if they are found out, as well as the groups bravery for infiltrating the Nazi ranks and literally waiting on the other side of the door to assist their “agent”. The positioning of the actors behind the wall, Tura on the right with everyone else on the left, visually expresses the roles of each of these characters in that way. The scene perfectly highlights what I believe to be one of Lubitsch’s main themes: that anyone is capable of resisting tyranny and fascism, even if they are someone as unorthodox and silly as a stage actor putting on a performance.