Circle Of Deceit
Picture:
C+ Sound: C Extras: C+ Film: B
Volker
Schlondorff is a West German filmmaker who did not allow him to get caught up
in the pretensions that Wim Wenders did and is a more solid filmmaker as a
result. Circle Of Deceit (1981) has him working with Wenders’ regular Bruno
Ganz in a good performance showing how good he is when freed of the limits of
Wenders “vision” of cinema.
The story
involves reporter Georg Laschen (Ganz) delving into the hotbed of war and
terrorism in Beirut, when he abandons his wife for
Arianna Nassar (Rainer Werner Fassbinder favorite Hanna Schygulla), who he
finds more exciting as his marriage seems to be in trouble. Instead of the love story making the war
story background fodder (i.e., Gone With
The Wind), the war here actually ups the stakes of their lives and
relationship. This is further
complicated by some unsavory aspects of the press itself.
Despite
this story being all over the news since the events of 9/11/01, it is
remarkable how well this film holds up. It
is not simply that is it more relevant because of the subject, but because of
what it shows and says. The screenplay
is rich in character and detail, always moving to show and tell more of the
story. Ganz is highly believable as a
man whose loss is reflected by the constant mortal loss of everyone and
everything in Beirut.
He feels Arianna offers new hope for him and the world around them, even
if it is just a start, especially exemplified by her love of a year-old
abandoned infant who a nurse recommends she abandon before she gets too
attached as the baby will not develop properly.
This is powerful, intelligent filmmaking that somehow manages to defy
age. One of the reasons is it cuts
through the lies and rhetoric of such a situation and shows them as they are,
as much as a fictional film can.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image shows age on the print and some softness
and limitations in the transfer, but this is supposed to be a gritty film, so
some of the lack of picture fidelity is to be expected. Cinematographer Igor Luther does a very
convincing job of matching outside footage and indoor setups in very real ways,
despite that the film was shot in “safer” sections of Beirut.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound was recorded in Dolby A-type analog
surround, but this mix does not offer Pro Logic surrounds of any kind. In this case, this is such an early use of the
format that there may have been limited surround information and/or it was so
old that too much distortion form the original source had to be scaled back for
modern playback. This could also depend
on what sound material survived. The
score by Maurice Jarre is easily a plus for the film. Extras include a new, nearly-half hour Making Of program, a new 15-minute
reflection interview with Schlondorff, and a few stills of the film. This includes some behind the scenes and they
are of solid picture quality.
Schlondorff
notes all the Hollywood films like Year of Living Dangerously among others that tried to recapture
this film. None he noted were as
successful, but one forerunner was William Friedkin’s 1978 remake of Wages Of Fear entitled Sorcerer. It also mixed real footage of conflict with
the dramatized narrative, but was more in the thick of battle and was more of a
thriller, echoed in theme by Brian De Palma’s The Fury the same year, though much more distant as a narrative to
compare to. Schlondorff sticks with the
conflict all the way and that is why Circle
Of Deceit is a must-see for serious film viewers, long overdue on home
video. This is a DVD more than worth
your time.
- Nicholas Sheffo
