Werckmeister Harmonies
d. Bela Tarr, 2001
The opening sequence of Bela Tarr's astonishing film, Werckmeister Harmonies, shows a young man named János illustrating to a pub full of drunken men the process of a solar eclipse. This magnificent sequence is important because of the way it deals with the central occurrence of the film. In his explanation, János tells that when planets are alligned a certain way, it causes a fundamental chaos. The catalyst for chaos in Werckmeister Harmonies is not an eclipse, but something just as fascinating: a traveling circus whose main attraction is a large whale and an enigmatic figure called "The Prince."
One of the earlier scenes shows János taking care of his uncle György, a music theorist who speaks about the Werckmeister scale as flawed. Because of this, he suggests, everything that comes after that scale is therefore faulty and false as well . This, much like the eclipse demonstration, ties in with the central themes of Harmonies.
Later on, János is confronted by his Aunt Tünde, György's former wife, who tries to convince János to enlist the help of his uncle in order to gather support for her cause. The cause, Tünde explains, is a way for the town to be cleansed of the vagrants that have come along to see the attraction and have gathered in the Town Square. She informs János that if his uncle does not provide the help she wants, she will move back in him (his obsession with music drove her out to begin with).
János visits the Town Square and sees the growing uncertainness that is felt amongst the people gathered. In one sequence, János manages to sneak into the truck where the whale is kept in and overhears a disturbing conversation between the director of the circus and a shadow the audience presumes to be The Prince. The Prince speaks about the flawed political foundation of the town and essentially tells them to burn it down. After this, Tarr brilliant shows a shot of János running away. With this, the undercurrent of moral ambiguity is strengthened because The Prince's speech is not the only possible reason for the subsequent revolt, it could also very possibly due to Tünde's planned reforms.
The visual strategy that Tarr and his six cinematographers employ in Werckmeister Harmonies is genius. The extended takes that last for several minutes help at establishing a meditative mood that would be impossible with quick cuts and fast-paced sequences. Also, the few metaphors that Tarr uses are so well-developed throughout that the unshakable feeling created is, I believe, unmatched by any film.
It is amazing how concisely Tarr is able to establish and extend on all of his themes with the brief running-time of 140 minutes. Werckmeister Harmonies manages to paint a fascinating allegory about the corrupted evolution of a flawed ideal, about the blind allegiance to false idols (which, in turn, leads to the chaos in the film), and, above all, about the moral ambiguity that hovers over everything.
