Aus der alten Welt + Marmor bleibt immer kühl

Male fantasies carved in stone, presented as a cheeky and provocative exploration of various manifestations of Nazism. Klaus Telscher combines animalistic perversions to offer associative allusions to zoophilia in the Third Reich (and beyond). Patriotic songs blare from the loudspeakers whilst the German people lustfully indulge in their passion for horses and dogs. A reminder that cinema sometimes tells us more when it simply brings things into contact without explaining why. Lutz Mommartz, on the other hand, observes the sculptor Peter Rübsam as he creates a statue of Gustaf Gründgens. The actor, a symbol of the collusion between careerist artists and fascism, is viewed in various ways: as a comic-book character, as a stage presence, as a lackey of the powerful. A film as an indictment, not a verdict. (P.H.)