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Author: Sante Scardillo --- Date: 12/22/95 --- Copyright: ThingReviews NYC

Zentropa
directed by Lars von Trier
Walter Reade Theater
70 Lincoln Center Plaza


Who is running this good willed double agent? In rent occupied 1945 Germany, an American boy of German descent wants to be a sleeping-car conductor, but his nationality and position as liason to the travelling elite make him an important pawn to both the American rulers and the Nazi underground. Constructivist camera work with elaborately graphic shots often including black and white and color in the same frame, plus montage editing, are the meat of this tale of deception, manipulation, betrayal and ensuing tragic madness. Needless to say, a woman will push the self-destruct botton. Seen on a too short run at the Walter Reade Theater, the last luxurious screen with decent programs left in Manhattan.

-Sante Scardillo


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me -- me@myemail
Responds:

cool!


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Darla -- MizzDarla@aol.com
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This is one of my favorite foreign films.


Andrew Bridges --
Responds:

While von Trier's work here is sublime, the true "meat" of "Zentropa" is the poignant and ironic script, possibly the most intelligent of its year.


Annika --
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...The films name is "EUROPA", not Zentropa, thats the production company.


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Gabriel V.M -- al175900campus.mty.itesm.mx.
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Yes, the title of the movie is Europa. Nonetheless, when distributed to the rest of the world, the title was changed to whar we know as Zentropa.


John Bitterolf -- ubittj00@mcl.ucsb.edu
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Von Trier stands today as one of the most daring filmmakers we have. Zentropa is a personal favorite of mine for its visual manipulation and narrative irony.


oren negby -- negby@inter.net.il
Responds:

I'm writing an assay on the film 'zentropa'. Does anybody know how can I get in touch with the director ??? please send me his e-mail or some kind of adress.


Knightraver -- nathan_s1@hotmail.com
Responds:

Zentropa or Europa as it was originally called was an intricately crafted film which defied categorisation. Max van Sydow's narration was relentless in its coupling with the bleak german landscape, and the use of black/white and colour imagery was effective in highlighting the dislocation and fragmentation experienced during the immediate post-war period. A thorughly brilliant film from a hihgly talented and provocative director.


dennis -- fuct_31@hotmail.com
Responds:

anyone who have seen RIGET?


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karl rahder -- krahder@usa.net
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I saw this film a year ago and still can't get it out of my head. It is both starkly real and surreal, and reminds me of the best of Kobayashi and Herzog. I was also repelled by the anti-semitism of the main characters but fascinated by the world that von Trier was weaving for us. Ach! Extraordinary film; irresistable.


Leonardo García -- lg@soton.ac.uk
Responds:

I've just read a review of Europa and I just can't believe the reviewer said the characters are "uninvolving"... My god! What do you think about that criticism? In my opinion is unbelievably unfair: there is a set of characters living in a world that has just collapsed, they live among the rubble, and they still feel passions, love, altruist feelings...the fight for their love! any opinion? Besides, does anybody know why on earth has the name of the film been changed for its US distribution? I think it's a masterpiece, anyway... Cheers


briony -- amadeus@eisa.net
Responds:

I think this is a completely fabulous film. I keep reading catty reviews that find it utterly "uninvolving" but since when does cinema have to be anyway?! Who says you have to have a good weep to get something out of a film experience? The director is clearly trying to push the audience away from emotion .. through the use of the hypnotist voiceover; which I think is just brilliant. There is clearly a Brechtian element at play. This is a way, I guess, of forcing the audience to evaluate the dilemma of the film .. in political terms rather than purely emotional ones. And what an amazing final scene!