The Counter-Cinema of the Berlin School

摘要

In attempting to answer the vexed question of what the so-called Berlin School is-the question that pervades this stimulating, first comprehensive monograph on the topic-Marco Abel deploys the famously provocative statement by Andre Bazin, one of the leading advocates of neorealism, that, in fact, neorealism did not exist: there were only neorealist directors. Suitably inspired to emulate one of the most influential of film critics, Abel himself suggests that 'we might be better off insisting that a Berlin School cinema did and does not exist as such but that there are Berlin School directors' (298) [original emphasis]. Accordingly, he also suggests that we ought not be too focused on any reductive desire to list those elements that might characterise films of the Berlin School. Instead of worrying about what these films 'are', he suggests, we should concentrate on how they function. It is a very sensible proposition, and the monograph offers the reader ample opportunity to grasp what Abel means in that it features myriad detailed close readings from the films at the heart of his study.