In the Land of Darkness, Pain, and Suffering_Wozzeck 12.06.13 10:17 1 Seite 10:17 12.06.13 Suffering_Wozzeck and Pain, of Darkness, In the Land task to another with never any time between. The perpetual state of neurosis that consumes Woyzeckis consumes that neurosis of state perpetual The between. time any never with another to task one from scurries he rat, a Like work. of years and months, weeks, days, of sweat and soot the carrying downtrodden, the of marks the bears face His structures. crumbling the among home at uncomfortably appearing screen, the on presence uncanny an commands Kovács, Lajos formidable the by ,played infrastructure. dilapidated the into blend landscape forlorn Szász’ populating sparsely characters The stock. film black-and-white and lighting chiaroscuro fog, as such horror-filmelements, with reinforces film the that feeling haunted a evoking self, former its of ghost Szász’ In masses. the for employment and transportation of means stable a as serving also economy,while planned the of output industrial great the moving enterprise, the of arteries the were trains where project, communist the of ambition impressive the of us reminds yard rail the of infrastructure monolithic the era, post-communist the In communism. under strikes railroad Warto WorldSecond the during resistance partisan and Holocaust the of images history,from European Central and Eastern twentieth-century in role significant a played have workers their and railroads trains, screen, film animation Czech the and WatchedTrains dir.Munk), Andrzej like classics of think only need one cinema; European Central and Eastern to new not is railways and trains of theme The yard. freight a of landscape desolate the in worker railroad lowly a rather but original, soldier,the a in not as Woyzeckis anti-hero the version, Szász’ In cinematography.best and (Kovács), director,best actor for best awards with 1994, in Budapest Weekin Film Hungarian 25th the at celebrated was Youngfilm Best Domestically,the for AwardFilm. Film European the and Festival, Film Chicago 1994 the at Plaque Gold the including prizes, national and international of number a earned have fragment Büchner the of rendering worthy Szász’ film, full-length second his Only existence. human regarding questions his for constructs Szász that landscape The hand. at events the with buffer,simultaneity a a as creating there of version film cynical most the perhaps delivers Szász times, modern in film the setting By 1990s. early the in Hungary post-communist in set is Szász, János director Hungarian by adaptation, recent most the contrast, In Czechoslovakia. former in WernerHerzog’sfilmed director Westversion, German and 1979 Germany; of sector Soviet the then was what in Klaren’sfilmed C. version, Georg 1947 text: original the of setting nineteenth-century the to faithful remained these of two first The Europe. Central in three all pictures, motion WorldWar,Second the of end the Since interpretation. of liberties for allows structure narrative loose its fragment, a As existence. his of hardships mental and physical the under madness to driven being eventually experiments, scientific for exploited and superiors military his by abused soldier lowly a Woyzeckis 1836. in fragment dramatic eponymous his Woyzeckfor character the devising when questions existential same the with wrangling was Büchner Georg that seems It existence?” of burden the it spare to as generation coming the with sympathy much so have rather man a not Wouldexist? to continue race human the would alone, reason pure of act an by world the into brought were children Schopenhauer,“If Arthur inquired, pessimism, once of proponent philosophical renowned most The Doerre Jason By Woyzeck Woyzeck ; the temporal distance between the present and the oppressively tragic narrative is no longer no is narrative tragic oppressively the and present the between distance temporal the ; is one so full of darkness, pain, and suffering that it justifies the pessimism of Schopenhauer’sof pessimism the justifies it that suffering and pain, darkness, of full so one is , 1966, dir. Jirí Menzel), as well as more recent films, such as such films, recent more as well dir.as 1966, Menzel), , Jirí Pociag ( Night TrainNight Alois Nebel Alois , 1959, dir.1959, Kawalerowicz), , Jerzey János Szász’ Szász’ János Suffering: and Pain, Darkness,of Land the In Woyzeck (2011, dir. Tomás Lunák). In addition to being photogenic for the for dir.photogenic (2011, being Tomásto addition In Lunák). has been adapted into several minor and three major three and minor several into adapted been has Woyzeck Woyzeck Czlowiek na torze na Czlowiek is an appealing text for adaptation, because adaptation, for text appealing an is Woyzeck , however, the rail yard appears as a as appears however,yard , rail the Ostre sledované vlaky sledované Ostre Kontroll ( Man on the Tracksthe on Man (2003, dir.(2003, Antal) Nimród ( Closely , 1957, ,

1 In the Land of Darkness, Pain, and Suffering: János Szász’ Woyzeck • • A DVD Release by the DEFA Film Library In the Land of Darkness, Pain, and Suffering_Wozzeck 12.06.13 10:17 Seite 2

In the Land of Darkness, Pain, and Suffering: János Szász’ Woyzeck

exacerbated by his captain, who monitors him from the control tower. From this panopticon, the captain observes Woyzeck while eating his hearty meals in relative comfort. The element of surveillance is inten - sified formally through the frequent use of crane shots that monitor the landscape. Woyzeck, of course, cannot see into the tower; but he is tantalized by the sound of eating that emanates from the loudspeakers. Surrounded by the Central-European winter weather, he eats his own paltry meals—restricted to peas because of his participation in a scientific experiment—in a dark and cramped shack. The hard labor conditions, insufficient diet, and scorn of his superiors eventually reduce Woyzeck to a primal state of nervousness. Trains sporadically blowing through the frames create a heightened sense of anxiety in the film. The combination of nerves and trains, of course, has been a common pairing in the age of moder- A A DVD Release by the DEFA Film Library nity, and the setting recalls another work of nineteenth-century German literature: ’s important naturalistic novella Bahnwärter Thiel (The Train Dispatcher, 1887). Woyzeck’s entrapment in the cruel surroundings, as well as his inescapable biological needs are common aspects of late nineteenth- • Wozzeck • • Wozzeck century literary naturalism, and we know that Büchner was an influential forerunner for pro-ponents such as Hauptmann. In Szász’ version of the story, Woyzeck’s attachment to Marie, the mother of his child, is not only emotional, but also sexual. In a scene in which he visits the confined abode of Marie and the child, he Woyzeck makes desperate sexual advances towards her; but she denies him, saying, “I’d rather you kill me.” The callousness with which Marie treats Woyzeck is perhaps mitigated by the situation, however. How can one expect humane behavior in such a landscape of darkness, pain, and suffering? In this sense, Marie is a prisoner no less than Woyzeck, and it is because of him that she has a child dependent on her. While Woyzeck pushes the limits of his physical capacity to provide for his family, Marie is tempted by the fantasy of transcending her material conditions. The chance comes when a sadistic policeman expresses lust for her, seeing her less as a human than as an outlet for his primal desires, and referring to her as a “wild animal.” To the policeman, other humans are merely a means to an end. This and his sadism are demonstrated when he vents his aggression on Woyzeck, as well as in another instance when he watches with delight as one person is assaulted by others. In Szász’ dystopian setting, the pillars of civilization are thoroughly corrupt. While the policeman delivers injury instead of protection, the doctor uses science not as a means to advance humanity, but rather the reverse: in his laboratory, located in a train car, humans are used to advance science. Woyzeck is not the only one to participate in his experiments; masses of In the Land of Darkness, Pain, and Suffering: János Szász’ Woyzecks flock to the train car, like livestock at feeding time, to earn the meager reward they need to survive for one more day. In vain, Woyzeck tells the doctor that if he himself were a doctor, he would save people. When the physical and mental strain overwhelm Woyzeck, he rebels against his existence by unleashing his anger against that which is destroying him. In this detail, Szász deviates from the original, in which Marie becomes the victim of Woyzeck’s insanity. Still, the absolute sense of cynicism Szász has created remains: Woyzeck’s action is not a step toward ameliorating the status quo, but rather an act of nihilism. Marie’s death by a serene lake in the final scene is almost an act of kindness, which frees her from further exploi - tation and an existence without redeeming qualities, and which contrasts with the darkness, pain, and suffering of the town and rail yard. Szász’ Woyzeck has qualities which mark it as a document of the early post-communist era. The power rela- tions in the film can be seen as a critique of the unequal experience of social transition after the collapse of communism. Across the former Eastern Bloc there was widespread sentiment that those in positions of power were able to preserve their positions, while those at the bottom remained at the bottom. The dys - topian setting of Szász’ Woyzeck—with figures of authority who are accountable to nobody—comments upon the structural void during this time of transition. With this in mind, Szász’ Woyzeck provides an interest - ing comparison to Klaren’s 1947 film, considering that both films were released during periods of political

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In the Land of Darkness, Pain, and Suffering: János Szász’ Woyzeck

transition. Klaren’s film, however, ends with the optimistic hope of building a new, socialist Europe, while Szasz’ bears the pessimism of its collapse. Stylistically, the former displays the influence of expressionism, while the 1994 version shows an affinity to naturalism. Both films, however, equally convey the genius of Büchner’s Woyzeck, which is its universal statement about the unequal treatment of humans within social hierarchies—be they capitalist or communist, military or medical. As Schopenhauer tells us, compassion is the basis for all morality. Despite the darkness, pain, and suffering with which Szász confronts us, the moral of the story of the lowly Woyzeck remains that one must have compassion for the disempowered. A A DVD Release by the DEFA Film Library Jason Doerre is a Ph.D. candidate in German studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a former Project Assistant for the DEFA Film Library, where he has translated and subtitled numerous DEFA

films, including Wozzeck. His research interests include film studies and nineteenth-century German literature. • • Wozzeck Woyzeck In In the Land of Darkness, Pain, and Suffering: János Szász’

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