Page 139 - Darko Štrajn, From Walter Benjamin to the End of Cinema: Identities, Illusion and Signification. Ljubljana: Educational Research Institute, 2017. Digital Library, Dissertationes, 29.
P. 139
robar-dor in‘s mir ror: r ams and mammoths in the context of yugoslav history
sion and Viba [national film production company] management
and councils. For this reason, there was a need to invent literal-
ly a different film, a different production scheme, form, technolo-
gy. Yes, even technology. Technology of work, method. Something
that could become a weapon for defence, for attack, something that
would help me cut into the tissue of an aggressive corpse, that is,
Slovenian cinema with all its sacrosanct apostles, wheedlers, theo-
reticians, profiteers, journalists, cinephils, necrophiliacs ...
Thus, for achieving effects such as mixing levels of subjective percep-
tions and a reality “outside,” the author could not use many fancy means
such as “subjective views,” camera tricks, and a cinematic narration based
on a large quantity of film shots. Although the camera in the hands of Kar-
po Godina performs more than merely correctly in the acted sequences of
the film with regard to its iconographic aspects, the aforementioned se-
quences are rather “straight” and viewers receive the impression of a simple
film narration. It appears that the author’s “method” has resulted in a “dis-
tanced view,” which can be achieved through a combination of camera an-
gles, few close-ups, and directing scenes such that the space the camera cre-
ates becomes visible at the expense of the performing characters.
One example is the effect of the distanced visual account of an encoun-
ter between Bosnians and arcade games, which works as a sociological ref-
erence. In the story line of Marko Skače, a bar with pinball machines and
other such games represents the place where Marko comes searching for his
victims, whom he attacks in the restrooms. In this sequence, certain axes
of gazes from within and outside the frame are crossed. The scenes are di-
rected in manner in which a viewer receives the impression that gazes of
the Bosnians and the character Marko hardly ever meet. For the Bosnians,
Marko does not exist in “their” space. The “machinery of civilization” (ar-
cade games) in the Slovenian’s nationalist gaze from outside the frame ex-
poses the difference between “primitive” and “cultured” individuality. The
Bosnians, hooked on their games, are exposed in their “primitive” identi-
ty (in the nationalist gaze) like tribal people given glass beads by coloniz-
ers. However, the camera does not identify with the look of any of charac-
ters; it persists in its point of view, which shows that the characters move
within their closed worlds, their realities, which eventually clash with oth-
er realities. Therefore, the aggressive intervention of the Slovenian charac-
ter comes as though it had sprung from the mythological ethnically surde-
137
sion and Viba [national film production company] management
and councils. For this reason, there was a need to invent literal-
ly a different film, a different production scheme, form, technolo-
gy. Yes, even technology. Technology of work, method. Something
that could become a weapon for defence, for attack, something that
would help me cut into the tissue of an aggressive corpse, that is,
Slovenian cinema with all its sacrosanct apostles, wheedlers, theo-
reticians, profiteers, journalists, cinephils, necrophiliacs ...
Thus, for achieving effects such as mixing levels of subjective percep-
tions and a reality “outside,” the author could not use many fancy means
such as “subjective views,” camera tricks, and a cinematic narration based
on a large quantity of film shots. Although the camera in the hands of Kar-
po Godina performs more than merely correctly in the acted sequences of
the film with regard to its iconographic aspects, the aforementioned se-
quences are rather “straight” and viewers receive the impression of a simple
film narration. It appears that the author’s “method” has resulted in a “dis-
tanced view,” which can be achieved through a combination of camera an-
gles, few close-ups, and directing scenes such that the space the camera cre-
ates becomes visible at the expense of the performing characters.
One example is the effect of the distanced visual account of an encoun-
ter between Bosnians and arcade games, which works as a sociological ref-
erence. In the story line of Marko Skače, a bar with pinball machines and
other such games represents the place where Marko comes searching for his
victims, whom he attacks in the restrooms. In this sequence, certain axes
of gazes from within and outside the frame are crossed. The scenes are di-
rected in manner in which a viewer receives the impression that gazes of
the Bosnians and the character Marko hardly ever meet. For the Bosnians,
Marko does not exist in “their” space. The “machinery of civilization” (ar-
cade games) in the Slovenian’s nationalist gaze from outside the frame ex-
poses the difference between “primitive” and “cultured” individuality. The
Bosnians, hooked on their games, are exposed in their “primitive” identi-
ty (in the nationalist gaze) like tribal people given glass beads by coloniz-
ers. However, the camera does not identify with the look of any of charac-
ters; it persists in its point of view, which shows that the characters move
within their closed worlds, their realities, which eventually clash with oth-
er realities. Therefore, the aggressive intervention of the Slovenian charac-
ter comes as though it had sprung from the mythological ethnically surde-
137
