MOVIES AT LA PLAZA—Anselm: An artist difficult to categorize

Film Review by Sergio Martinez

Anselm-Le bruit du temps (Anselm-The Sound of Time), Wim Wenders' recent film released in Montreal, is a documentary about Anselm Kiefer, a German artist who is somewhat difficult to categorize. At the beginning of the film, we see him engaged in burning the surface of panels to present an image that defies definition. Is it a commentary on the destruction that dominated the post-war German landscape, the period in which the filmmaker and the artist who is the subject of the documentary grew up? It can be said that these postwar images greatly shape Anselm's work. We see that both his paintings and his female sculptures seem to be deliberately missing parts, such as the half-ruined buildings in the devastated post-war German cities.

The opening scene 

If cataloguing Anselm Kiefer's art is difficult, Wender admits that so is a film about the artist. "Have we really made a documentary?" he asks. He then alludes to other projects such as Pina or Buenavista Social Club, films in which the same question could also be asked. Later in his presentation of the film, Wender tries to elucidate this doubt, after affirming that it is indeed a documentary because of the elements and the form that the film has, he adds: "Yes, that is what is done in a documentary. But we also invent scenes from Anselm's childhood and immerse ourselves in his story. In doing so, we blur the boundaries between past and present. We took this freedom because, in the face of art, you have to assert your own freedom, otherwise, you don't participate in the transcendence before us."

In his workshop

For those who have not had much background on Anselm Kiefer's work, Wender's documentary will introduce them to his world in multiple ways and messages. In this sense, the German filmmaker performs a rescue task, as he did before with the old Cuban performers of Buenavista Social Club, bringing his art to a more massive audience.

As for the references to Anselm's childhood and the images of war-torn Germany, they provide a very effective element to place the viewer in the context of the artist's work.  At one point Kiefer says, "Childhood is an empty space, like the beginning of the world."  In these forays into the past, Wender's intention seems to be to engage in a shared investigation between the artist and the viewers who are discovering his work.

Strange sculptures

This is a documentary film that, pleasantly, provides a quite deep vision of Anselm Kiefer's art. Recommended especially for those interested in modern art.

Running time: 93 min.