Berlin Film Festival
Berlin is the capital of Sense Of Guilt. We already know that. As you walk from Potsdamer Platz, where the Berlinale Palast is, towards the Reichstag and the Brandenburgen Tor, the ghosts of history are chasing you and continuously reminding you of what has been.
Will the conscience of Berlin and its inhabitants ever lift? This is not for us to tell, but surely the program of this year's Berlinale doesn't help, with so many films dealing with WWII along with the memory of other, less spectacular wars.
The Reader ( See Review ) reveals a complex story of responsibility, free will and guilt, and forces the viewers to ask themselves questions. In the Berlinale Special program, Adam Resurrected by Paul Schrader starring Jeff Goldblum tells the life of cabaret artist Adam Stein and his survival strategy in a concentration camp - and afterwards.
As for the Official Competition, Hans Christian Schmid (of Requiem fame) makes a riveting and ethically charged comeback with Storm, about the ethnic rape in ex-Yugoslavia starring Kerry Fox as a brave prosecutor and Anamaria Marinca as a witness.
The Messenger by Oren Moverman shows Woody Harrelson as a Casualty Notification Officer back from Iraq.
In the Panorama, often the most daring section of the festival, Austrian Michael Glawogger presents Kill Daddy Goodnight, in which the protagonist gets to know about a former Lithuanian Nazi camp guard.
Conflicts and tension are also the main theme of the UK films - is it a sign the times? Has the collective fear of the credit crunch creeped into the world of cinema? Stephen Frears returns to melodrama with Cheri, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Rupert Friend as a couple who cannot live their love story openly.
Rage is the latest experimental work by Sally Potter with Dame Judi Dench and Jude Law ( dressed as a woman ) Eddie Izzard and model Lily Cole.
Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross storm the Panorama with The Shock Doctrine, taken from the Naomi Klein book of the same title and starring the writer herself.
British icon Quentin Crisp is celebrated by three films in the Panorama: An Englishman in NY by Richard Laxton, Resident Alien and The Naked Civil Servant.
In terms of film market, such a heavy and engaged program isn't likely to entice international buyers. Hopefully the Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick, whose fame was built on the commercial success of his selections, will manage to march his way out of this year's commercial caution. The decision to raise the price of the Press Accreditation by 50% has caused a public protest by German film critics. Now only the sheer quality of the films can guarantee a bright future for this festival.
Open was on the red carpet for the BAFTAs. Check out the gossip here.
