Film Review
Kameradschaft (a.k.a.
La Tragédie de la mine)
represents the crowning achievement of Georg Wilhelm Pabst's flirtation
with social realism. The film combines the moody expressionism of
Pabst's earlier silent films with some obvious Russian influences (most
evidently the work of Sergei Eisenstein) to deliver an authentic
recreation of a real-life mining disaster that took place in 1906, in
the French town of Courrières, in which over 1000 men, women and
children lost their lives. The most surprising aspect of the
Courrières mining disaster was that German miners from across
the border came willingly to the aid of their French
counterparts. Pabst takes this rare and beautiful example of
cross-nation solidarity and uses it to make a heart-felt plea for peace
and cooperation between the peoples of different countries, at a time
when Europe was fragmenting and slipping inexorably towards war.
Whilst the film has more than a whiff off Marxist-Leninist ideology
about it (the Communist slogan 'Workers of the World Unite' is repeated
ad nauseum towards the end of the film), it is evident that Pabst's
primary intention is to promote peace, not Communism. Cooperation
between different countries was not a popular idea at the time the film
was made, at the height of the Great Depression. Unemployment and
poverty were rife throughout Europe, and the lack of camaraderie that
we see between the French and Germans at the start of the film is an
accurate reflection of the socio-economic reality. Franco-German
antipathy was doubtless strengthened by memories of the Great War,
which was still fresh in people's minds - something that is powerfully
alluded to in the film's most striking sequence, in which a
near-asphyxiated miner mistakes a gas-masked rescuer for a German
soldier he once confronted on the battlefield of WWI. Like many
other free thinkers of his time, Pabst feared for the consequences of
this inward-looking mindset, and he was right to do so. What
ensued was a spectacular burgeoning of nationalistic self-interest that
created the perfect environment in which militant fascism could take
root and flourish. The nightmare that Pabst foresaw would become
a horrible reality within just a few years of his film being made.
Whatever you may think about its political subtext, it cannot be denied
that
Kameradschaft is a
remarkable piece of cinema. Pabst was one of the most
sophisticated filmmakers of his time and here he uses the moving image
and synchronised sound to devastating effect to convey the true horror
of a mining disaster and its terrible human consequences. So
convincing are the sets that Pabst had built for the film that they
could easily be mistaken for the real thing - especially as they are so
seamlessly intercut with shots of real locations. The
confined setting and Pabst's penchant for long tracking shots (which
obviated the need for cutting) give the sequences in the mine a
harrowingly claustrophobic feel, and when disasters strike (pit props
suddenly collapsing, torrents of water smashing through walls, the air
suddenly igniting into a ball of flame) the spectator feels the full
impact, as if he were standing in the mine, only dimly await of the
dangers around him. Pabst's use of sound is also impressive for a
film of this era. There is no music (except in the one scene set
in a dance hall), just natural sounds and the voices of the French and
German protagonists, who speak in their own languages. The sound
track adds a great deal to the feeling of oppression in the mine, and
you sense that every noise has a significance - some suggesting hope,
the possibility of rescue; others portending yet another cruel disaster
in which lives will be snuffed out like candles.
In addition to the dramatic scenes of courage and calamity, there are
many others that offer some quieter moments that are charged with a
powerful humanity. These include the intensely poignant scene in
which a grief-stricken old man finally manages to find and resuscitate
his grandson, a boy miner. Then there is the sequence in which a
German miner, being driven off to the mine, appeals to his dumbstruck
wife to understand why he must go and help his French comrades - his
argument: the men he hopes to save have wives and children too.
Once the celebration and mutual back-slapping is over, the film ends
with a surprisingly bitter coda, which perhaps reflects the reality
that Pabst felt would ultimately tread his humanist hopes into the
dust. An iron grill separating the French and German portions of
the mine is restored by military-looking officials, within hours of it
being demolished by a group of German miners eager to come to the help
of their French counterparts. It is a highly symbolic moment, and
one that is chilling in its prescience.
Pabst's vision of a Franco-German alliance would one day come to
fruition, through various treaties signed in the 1950s and '60s which
cemented economic and political cooperation between the two
countries. However, this enlightened outcome was a long way
off. In the meantime, France and Germany would once again have to
resolve their differences by military means, in an insane conflagration
that would engulf the entire world. Comradeship would have been a far
less costly solution, but, as history demonstrates, hate is far easier
to propagate than brotherly love. With its heart-warming
portrayal of one nation spontaneously coming to the aid of another,
motivated simply by a common bond of humanity, Pabst's film offers hope
for the future of mankind, but can we really be sure that it isn't just
a case of wishful thinking?
© James Travers 2012
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Georg Wilhelm Pabst film:
L'Opéra de quat'sous (1931)
Film Synopsis
During the Great Depression, France and Germany are both beset with
high unemployment. In a French border town, unemployed German
miners are turned away when they try to find work in a French
mine. They receive a similarly cold welcome when they visit a
French dancehall one Sunday evening. The next day,
Françoise makes up her mind to leave the mining town, unable to
live with the possibility that her brother Jean and his friend Emile
might die in a pit accident, like her father. Just as her train
is pulling out of the station, Françoise hears an enormous
explosion from the mine. It appears that attempts to contain a
fire in the mine have failed and a gas explosion has resulted.
Fearing the worst, Françoise hurries to the mine entrance, along
with all the other womenfolk of the town. Their fears are
confirmed: thousands of miners are trapped below ground, and many of
these are likely to be dead already. News of the disaster reaches
the neighbouring German pit, and here the miners readily agree to form
a rescue team to help their French comrades. Meanwhile, a retired
old miner sneaks into the mine unseen, determined to rescue his
grandson, who is little more than a boy...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.