Werckmeister Harmonies

Béla Tarr's 2000 film <i>The Werckmeister Harmonies</i> deals with troubling events in a small town in Hungarian's eastern plains. After an opening scene showing simpleton postman János demonstrating to a bar full of drunks how the Earth and moon rotate around the sun with the help of three of the old geezers, he does his rounds in the early morning. Posters put up advertise the arrival of a giant whale with special guest, the Prince. This traveling circus, however, fills the townspeople not with eager anticipation but with dread. Indeed, when the Prince does appear, all hell breaks loose.

Based on the novel The Melancholy of Resistance by László Krasznahorkai, the plot of this film is a transparent allegory for Hungary in the 1930s and ...

With the temperature well below zero, it's odd to see the rural population of the Hungarian plain standing around awaiting the ultimate in circus attractions (if not the ultimate nightmare for the taxidermist). A giant whale is revealed and, well, many of them have no idea what to make of it. As it remains, it attracts visitors from all around and their arrival starts to cause friction amidst this small community. That's especially problematic for the gentle young "János" (Lars Rudolph) who is used to being the sole source of local entertainment with his performances in the local boozer. What's not really clear to anyone, though, is just why this long deceased leviathan is causing so much trouble. His aunt "Tünde" (Hanna Schygulla) tries to...