VISIONS OF EUROPE
[via Lars von Trier]
[“A tag in each ear secures a life-long identity.”]
I no longer dream of Europe.
Suddenly it was gone. So what?
I no longer kn[o][e]w it.
Off the misery, on the go, on the lookout . . .
Nobody would say such nonsense. Now tell me the truth.
Stuffed the squashed grapes into a vat.
Barry Alpert / Silver Spring, MD US / 11-30-05 (11:58 PM)
The Danish film director Lars von Trier commissioned one director from each
of the 25 countries constituting the European Union to articulate “a
personal vision of current or future life in the EU” within a film of no
longer than five minutes. Then he gathered together and ordered what had
been contributed into an omnibus production of his Zentropa Entertainment.
Though I remember viewing films made up of sections from perhaps as many as
6 directors, I was startled when I first learned of the extent of the multi-
voicing in “Visions of Europe” and eagerly looked forward to the
screening. Whether Lars von Trier’s compositional strategy would succeed
in organizing disparate segments loomed larger for me than whether I could
carve a piece of writing out of it. In fact, the film did work for me.
Also, I was able to quarry 9 lines from the first few sections before being
overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of voices represented. Those 9 lines
were edited into 6, while 2 voices (neither of them mine) emerge from 4
sources.
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