The Ogre
(1996/Lionsgate) + Strike (2006/Dark
Sky Films)
Picture: C/B- Sound: C/C+ Extras: D/C- Film: B-/B
Volker
Schlöndorff is one of those directors of note that has not had a huge
blockbuster, but has had consistently strong work that people keep talking
about. His The Tin Drum is still the target of controversy and even recent
attempts at censorship. Recently, two of
his later films of note have arrived on DVD and both are worth seeing.
The Ogre offers one of John Malkovich’s
most complex roles as Abel Tiffauges, an isolated Frenchman with no adults
friends, is a mechanic, is shunned and likes children a little more than he
should, his fortunes shift in the oddest ways during WWII when the Nazis
invade, he becomes part of the Nazis and is eventually commissioned by a top
Nazi (Armin Mueller-Stahl) to pick children for Nazi Youth League-like
groupings. Not the shallow good/bad many
such films would be, plus the screenplay by Jean-Claude Carriere and Schlöndorff
is never exploitive or cheap. The film
runs two hours and is always intriguing and shows a director serious about
mature, adult subject mater and one of increasingly few who knows how to put
such material up on the screen.
Undimmed
ten years later, Strike bolds tells
the story about the ugly conditions in Poland that portray the rise of
Solidarity in dangerous, oppressive, Communist Poland where another one of Schlöndorff’s
loner individualists faces the rising tides of disturbing change. This time, it is Agnieszka (Katharina Thalbach)
who believes in the system until it turns on her. Older, illiterate and a single mother to
boot, she stands up for against the injustice of the widows of 21 killed
workers being denied benefits from a state mistake and the result is the
biggest work stoppage and becomes a hero.
It is not as simple or easy as it sounds, but Schlöndorff (with a solid
Andreas Pfluger/Sylke Rene Meyer) makes it very real and palpable, the ugly
Stalinist conditions for which ordinary people had to rise against.
The result
are two films that deserve wide recognition and viewing in the U.S. and Schlöndorff
should be taken more seriously in U.S. film school studies.
Both
films are here in anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 transfers, but Ogre has detail and depth issues that
show it is an old analog transfer, while Strike
is newer and has only some minor detail issues.
Color can be good on both, but different. Ogre
can look more naturalistic, but Strike
is still consistent despite a monochromatic tendency. Both only have Dolby Digital encoding, with
both offering 2.0 mixes and Strike
having a 5.1 mix. Orge’s sound is a few
generations down as well and no extras, while Strike only has a trailer.
- Nicholas Sheffo
