German gallery artist Julian Rosefeldt’s Manifesto (2017)
originated as a multi-screen video art installation at the Australian Centre for
the Moving Image (Melbourne) in 2015. The installation consisted of 13 giant
screen spaces, where actress Cate Blanchett’s diversely accented voices recited
extracts (in 10-minute video) from the seminal, incendiary texts that largely
shaped artistic, cultural, and political ideologies of the Western nations in the 20th
century. From Karl Marx and Fredriech Engels’ 1848 Communist Manifesto to Lars
Von Trier’s Dogme 95 at least 50-60 significant manifestos or declarations are
clubbed together under 12 distinct scenarios or themes. Cate Blanchett ptakes a
different, extremely challenging avatar in each scenario. The actress’
tour-de-force performance along with Rosefeldt’s meticulous and contemplative
observation of each man-made environment keeps the experimental feature vibrant
and highly fluid.
Shot over 12 days, the 100-minute 12-segment movie stages
each of the proclamations in an idiosyncratic, if not slightly absurd, setting.
In the opening sequence, there’s a gorgeous drone aerial shot of a dilapidated
industrial premise. The camera moves slowly, accompanied by a voice-over,
before focusing on Blanchett who plays a homeless man ranting the words of Karl
Marx. A mourner at a funeral quotes from Dadaism (the subversive ‘No More’ declaration); a tattooed & cynical British rocker throws around ideas of
Creationism; a CEO at private cocktail party reciting excerpts from Abstract
Expressionism; a master puppeteer pulling the strings of a puppet to patter on
Surrealism and so on. Apart from the funeral speaker scenario, my most favorite
one is the ‘Conservative mother’ scenario [Pop Art]. A housewife, her husband
and three children sit at a dinning table, spread with a sumptuous feast. She
starts saying grace which happens to be ‘I Am for an Art’ manifesto by American
sculptor Claes Oldenburg. The ‘grace’ is inter-cut couple of times with other
scenarios since it’s a very lengthy one, and the sheer absurdity of the
situation is absolutely exciting. As the grace comes to an end, the camera
roves through the opulent house revealing the bizarre collection of stuffed
animals with a live crow cawing.
Cate Blanchett brilliantly maintains the perfect cadence in
each scenario, despite the incongruous nature of her proclamations. It’s most
amusing to see Cate as the newscaster and reporter (hence 12 scenarios, 13
performances) in a segment discussing about conceptual art. If we press mute
and watch the scene, it would seem to be just seem like typical news weather report. As
a cinephile, I was naturally intrigued by the staging of film manifestos. In this one, Cate
plays an elementary school teacher and her eyes dilate with wonder while
explaining the different cinematic school of thoughts to the pupils. She starts with Jim Jarmusch’s ‘Nothing Is Original’
statement (from his ‘Golden Rules of Filmmaking’) and switches to Stan
Brakhage’s evocation of ‘the untutored eye’ to Godard’s ’It’s
not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to!’, and then
to the ‘ecstatic truth’ idea of Werner Herzog (which talks of creating or
stylizing realities). Eventually as the teacher monitors the student’s work,
she recites Lars Von Trier’s Dogme 95 film movement rules, which actually stands
as the perfect contradiction to Herzog’s notion. In the incredibly hopeful
ending, the camera pans across a school playground in slow-motion,
encapsulating the illuminated faces of the children, and the slow fluttering of
a pigeon towards the sky signaling the new generations’ elated spirits (which
may spawn more artistic strategies).
Blanchett’s impeccably staged readings are finely
complimented by Rosefeldt’s keen eye for architecture (vividly elegant
cinematography by Christoph Krauss). From the abandoned industrial campus to
the colossal garbage incinerator plant to intricately aligned financial trading
floor to the surrealistic chamber (the scientist in protective-suit enters into
it) to the luxurious retreat of the one-percenters, the places and the
expressed thoughts sublimely showcases our extremely polarized world (in terms
of economical, artistic, cultural, sociological levels). Some of the cryptic,
talk-heavy philosophies that are heaped upon one do endanger in watering-down
the effectiveness of the polemical and contemplative words (and most of these
are super-complex art theories). But the passion with which the director and
actress addresses the ground-breaking artistic statements, offers quite a lot
of sensory and visceral pleasures. The consistent stream of wit and subtle
ironies inculcates the message of how this motley of celebrated edicts are
capricious in nature, despite having been narrated in a definitive voice.
Trailer
Powered by Cate Blanchett’s brilliantly transformative
avatars, Manifesto (100 minutes) is a bold, visually magnificent experimental feature
that pays fine tribute to different, incendiary artistic movements and its
much-heralded contributors.
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