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We begin in Nazi Germany, in Dresden, with a tour of an exhibition of degenerate artworks purged by the Nazis as expressive outrage by Jewish painters that served little purpose in promoting nationalist virtue. Kurt Barnert is a young boy visiting the exhibition with his aunt, who is a sensitive musician, prone to visions and audio-hallucinations. She is taken away by the government, and her murder at the hands of the SS for being a mental degenerate is played out against the bombing of Dresden. Against these historic events, young Kurt matures into a sensitive, romantic painter whose drafting skills are put to work in Eastern Germany. In Soviet Dresden, Kurt\u00b4s talents are exploited by the government to paint a mural depicting the glory of workers under Communism. Art once again is subservient to the State in countering the degeneracy of the individual artistic vision. Kurt rebels and with his wife, a fashion design student turned seamstress, escapes the East for the freedoms of West Germany. There, he enters the art academy of Dusseldorf where the antidote to realist utility of Soviet art is a radical individualism: art as a unique vision whether expressed through canvasses bleeding paint or the footprints on tarp of the aspiring and socially climbing artist. In this third environment, Kurt comes into his own, as did Richter, by blending his rich technical skills as a realist with a deeply personal vision of reimagining photographs as paintings.<\/p>\n
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Confronting Degenerate Art: Never Look Away <\/p>\n What spurs Kurt\u00b4s growth as an artist is the personal drama of his love affair with Ellie, the art student who coincidentally shares a name with his murdered aunt. More amazing is another coincidence related to the aunt\u00b4s death at the hands of an SS doctor, who first orders her sterilization and then her gassing. The doctor is none other than Ellie\u00b4s father, and the interactions between the struggling artist Kurt and the arrogant, loathsome doctor crystalize the tension that drives this three-hour movie. Kurt and Ellie are aware of the doctor\u00b4s evil and suspect the corruption that lead to his being protected by a Soviet bureaucrat from prosecution for his war crimes. We wonder as we watch (as perhaps you do while reading this essay): Will Kurt learn about the deeper connection between the doctor and the tragedy of his life, the murder of the aunt who inspired his own artistic passions?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Enough spoilers for now. Let me say that the last hour of the movie climaxing in the creation of a photo-collage from photos of the aunt and Kurt, the Nazi who spearheaded the sterilization program, and Kurt\u2019s father-in-law reaches a crescendo of artistic passion and moral judgment that, frankly without being too over the top, moved me to tears. Equally moving is the actual ending of the movie, when after a press conference where Kurt comes into his own as a celebrity artist, he pays a surprising and meaningful tribute to his murdered aunt. Politics, art, creativity, judgment blend together perfectly in a story where evil is not vindicated through law but through artistic expression. What the state would dismiss as degenerate becomes empowered to reveal truth in art, however unaware of the triumph.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kurt\u2019s Tribute to His Aunt: Painting as Judgment <\/p>\n [4]<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The German title for Donnersmarck\u2019s movie is \u201cWerk ohne Autor,\u201d or \u201cArtwork Without An Author.\u201d The title has two meanings. First is the repression of individual artistic expression under Nazi Germany and the Soviet bloc: all that matters is the work, not the author. The second meaning is the power of the artwork, specifically the collage Kurt creates at the end, to stand as meaning even if the author does not fully comprehend its relevance. Kurt is compelled to juxtapose photographs to speak to some truth he senses but does not intellectually grasp. When revealed, by accident, to the Nazi father-in-law, the shock and fear he displays betrays his complicity and his own realization that perhaps his son-in-law and his daughter know the truth. The father-in-law runs away (the actual doctor he was modelled on was never tried for his war crimes) while Kurt shrugs off his father-in-law\u2019s reaction, silently letting the collage speak for itself. He is proud as an author even if the artwork has its own meaning.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kurt at Work<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n [5]<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This disconnect between artwork and creator comes through in the press conference at the end of the movie. Journalists try to undermine Kurt with their questions. One TV news reporter wonders whether Kurt\u2019s generation of artists actually understand what they are trying to say, a subtle reference from the director to Kurt not seeing the truth about his father-in-law\u2019s involvement in his aunt\u2019s murder. The TV news reporter passes his own judgment while standing in front of Kurt\u2019s photo collage of his aunt but only after passing over two other artworks because of the inappropriateness of broadcasting them. The passed over artworks are of a nude woman and another of a Nazi officer (see images here of Richter\u2019s work on which the paintings in the film were based). Viewers in 1960\u2019s Germany would not be able to stand witnessing either image. Artwork, with or without an author, is cast off subject to the whims of the media and the audience.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Richter\u2019s SS Officer<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [6]<\/a><\/p>\n Richter\u2019s Nude Descending<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [7]<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fans of Donnersmarck\u2019s breakthough film, the 2006 \u201cThe Lives of Others,\u201d[8]<\/a> will remember that the movie ends with the publication of a book. The book\u2019s author does not fully comprehend the connection with the Stasi Officer who spied on him and saved his life. His brief encounter with the ex-officer in reunified Berlin after the book\u2019s publication does bring the author closer to an epiphany, but it continues to be elusive. \u201cThe Lives of Others\u201d ended with another work without an author, a work that takes on its own meaning divorced from the connection between people.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The director\u2019s choice for the English title, \u201cNever Look Away,\u201d is telling. The true story might simply be that \u201cWork Without an Author\u201d did not test well. I like to think that the title is an admonishment for the audience. They are the final words of Kurt\u2019s aunt to Kurt as she is dragged away by the Nazi doctors. Kurt never looks away even if the final truth of what he sees and depicts escapes his understanding. Viewers of Donnersmarck\u2019s breath-taking film about state power run amok should never look away from the power of art to pass its own judgment on what the world brings up in the moment.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Gerhard Richter and his painted photograph of his aunt <\/p>\n [9]<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Shubha Ghosh is Crandall Melvin Professor of Law, Syracuse University College of Law<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/a> See https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt5311542\/<\/a><\/p>\n [2]<\/a> See Dana Goodyear, \u201cAn Artist\u2019s Life, Refracted in Film,\u201c The New Yorker (Jan. 14, 2019).<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2019-06-20\/never-look-away-film-review-gerard-richter-painting-german\/11224628<\/a><\/p>\n [4]<\/a> https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/cinematography-of-never-look-away\/<\/a><\/p>\n [5]<\/a> https:\/\/rosetheatre.com\/film\/never-look-away<\/a><\/p>\n [6]<\/a> https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2019-06-20\/never-look-away-film-review-gerard-richter-painting-german\/11224628<\/a><\/p>\n [7]<\/a> http:\/\/1081336963.blogspot.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n [8]<\/a> https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0405094\/<\/a><\/p>\n [9]<\/a> https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2019-06-20\/never-look-away-film-review-gerard-richter-painting-german\/11224628<\/a><\/p>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hedgehogsandfoxes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ghosh-image-1-2.jpg?resize=300%2C160&ssl=1\")
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