Zentropa (from Ilya)

"Zentropa

Zentropa is a film with a clear purpose, and while it is successful in communicating this purpose it forgoes many of the characteristics that an audience usually looks for in a film to do so. On the surface Zentropa is a story about an American, Otto Kesler, who returns to Germany, the land of his father, as a train conductor. Is idealistic intentions of helping repair the nation soon prove to be fruitless as he finds himself embroiled in the conflict between the occupiers, the americans, and the Wehrwolfs, the fascist resistance.  Through his experience, the audience is forced to question the popular notions of nationalism, and identity. Set in the ruins of Germany, the audience is witness to the birthplace of modern Europe. Within this sphere, Zentropa is rather poignant and Freudian. The logic behind the film is that only when the horrors of this turbulent decade are exposed and confronted, healing can begin. This being said, the Zentropa also has a pointed, if not scathing depiction of the American role in the "Good War". Otto, an idealist, a romantic, and ultimately an irrelevant, hopes to interject himself in a conflict that really has nothing to do with him. He learns that the hard way. If Otto represnts the propogandized American role in WWII, Colonel Harris, the other American in the film, is depicts the true American intention during the rebuilding of Europe. This was to maneuver itself into a more advantageous position than the USSR, the only other superpower present after the destruction of WWII. Morality was never part of the American interjection in WWII. As demonstrated when Colonel Harris pardons a Nazi who directly facilitated the transportation of jews to death camps. On one hand, this is provocative insight into politics to say the least. On the other, it comes at the suffering of the personal stories told in Zentropa. Otto is never a rounded character. The audience is unable to really connect with him because he is so inconsistent. While he has the conviction to go to one of the most dangerous places in the world at the  time, he lacks the hindsight and moral fortitude not to marry a fascist saboteur. His strained relationship with his uncle, a proud German, is never given the screen time to be dissected either. Thus by the end of the film, the audience can only take away the insight made about Zentropa or Europe as a whole. Which isn't necessarily bad. But it would've been nice to explore the personal connections within the film, as well as the motives behind each of the characters, on a more intrinsic level."