Dusan Makavejev is a visionary, anarchistic filmmaker who I previously wrote about but that film, Love Affair, is conventional compared to WR and Sweet Movie.

WR explores a lot of interesting subjects like Wilhelm Reich, the left and the right of political thought and the unworkable silliness of both, the ironies of war ("Kill, kill, kill for peace...Near or far or very middle East" - not different from today at all) - this film is packed with ideas, intellectual but visually displayed in inventive scenes that almost defy description. Quirky, surreal, documentary-like - it's a visual non-sequitur of sorts that always works, somehow. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the commentary is still relevant - things don't really fundamentally change anyway, do they? Highly recommended with a smidgen of warning!

The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers. Attributed to SOCRATES

Sweet Movie is a lesser work but interesting in its own right. Ostensibly about sexual politics, it's too expansive in content to really be just about this. It features a crazy (and grotesque) ending sequence with the Vienna Aktionists and an indescribable chocolate dance routine - and some crazy lovemaking in a vat of sugar. Capitalism to Communism to Anarchism is the progression leaving you with nowhere else to go in civilization - and that's fine with me b/c it's all bunk anyway. Philosophically this is strictly for yourself, mind you, not for the world which will probably continue to be dominated by capitalism. Anyway, Sweet Movie is not for everyone or as accessible as WR (and probably the product of a sick person) but is still interesting and outrageous and could never get made today - but I can't say that I really recommend it. By the time you finish the film you feel like you've been through a grueling adventure in the jungles of possibility and come out with malaria.

"Is there life on the earth, Is there life after birth?" memorable song from Sweet Movie

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