Hake, Sabine, 1956- . German national cinema / Sabine Hake. 2nd ed. 9780415420976 (hardback : alk. paper) series London ; New York : Routledge, 2008.
Call#: Van Pelt Library PN1993.5.G3 H28 2008

 

Within the chapter “West German Cinema 1962-90,” the section on the 1970s provides an overview of New German Cinema, the movement with which Herzog emerged. Coming out of the 1960s, German cinema had placed less of an emphasis on auteurism. With New German Cinema, the director became central as names like Fassbinder, Wenders, and Herzog becoming key figures in international film. Politically West Germany, from which the movement emerged, had a period of reforms during the Seventies. Hake also views the new films as a form of foreign policy marketing West Germany as a modern liberal state.
    By looking at the broader social and film environment that formed the films of Herzog, one has a better idea of the external influences on his work. While Herzog often speaks of the value of solitude and the individual, he did not work in a vacuum. In understanding his work as an example of the progress of the West German state, his work takes on a new meaning, indirectly exemplary of the Cold War. His films transcend much of the political divide, rarely depicting a split Germany. Fitzcarraldo particularly depicts the internationalism that the author associates with New German Cinema. The mix of characters from several nations – Fitzcarraldo is Irish, the boat captain is Dutch, the crew consists of native Peruvians – indicates an ability to move beyond both the domestic politics that characterized many films in the 60s and the ability to move beyond the international politics so turbulent during the Cold War.