previously published on Cineuropa
Every period of time
presents a range of things that must be resisted, and resistance
against abuse or repression is an ethical obligation for any
responsible citizen in a civilised society. In her documentary film
essay Moments of Resistance, Austrian director Jo
Schmeiser tries to join the dots between the glorious days
of the anti-Nazi resistance in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and
contemporary movements that are standing up to capitalism, patriarchy
and racism as the main forms of injustice that are threatening
society. The film has just world-premiered at the Viennale.
Schmeiser combines a
number of different approaches and techniques, which are largely
dictated by the various materials she introduces in the film.
Individuals from contemporary civil society are interviewed directly
in front of the camera, where they present their views, standpoints
and the actions undertaken by their organisations. Sometimes this is
humanitarian or legal aid for refugees and asylum seekers; sometimes
it is self-defence classes for migrant women. On the other hand,
there is a lack of living witnesses to the past, so Schmeiser relies
on the testimonies recorded in the period from the 1980s until the
early 2000s, and she tastefully and cleverly sets them against images
of people working in the factories and the fields, highlighting the
class background and the political views of the anti-Nazi resistance
fighters. Schmeiser also introduces other types of materials from the
Archives of the Austrian Resistance in Vienna, so we get to see
letters that the executed members of the resistance cell sent to each
other and to their parents, but also other written materials, such as
handwritten leaflets produced during the war and texts from songs and
poems, like the one that opens the film, Our Town Is Burning
by Mordechai Gebirtig (1938), translated from
Yiddish, and even whisper jokes that she simply uses as title cards.
The connection between
the two forms of resistance is not that obvious, since the methods of
exerting pressure and demonstrating resistance have changed
dramatically over that period of time, so the viewers are tasked with
finding the similarities and differences themselves. Schmeiser,
however, bridges that gap with a subject that she introduces early
on, a middle-aged Argentinian woman now working in the Austrian civil
sector, who was a political prisoner during the military
dictatorship. Her testimony and her advice on how to stand in
solidarity with fellow inmates is a crucial piece of the puzzle in
this film. The other connection is the predominant presence of women
in both the movements back in the day and nowadays, making gender
equality a long-standing goal that has not yet been accomplished
completely.
Schmeiser has managed to
communicate a clear message and to make an important and timely film.
Her technical skills are impressive, her presentation methods are
meticulous, and even her manipulation of the material (the audio
recordings were cleaned up in post-production, and some of the
objects she films appear in different contexts) renders the final
product even more polished. She had an enormous amount of help from
her numerous subjects and her small crew. Cinematographer Sophie
Mantigneux and editor Michael Palm do a
good job of taking the different kinds of material and fusing them
into a coherent movie that has a strong impact.
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