THE RUINS OF EUROPE | DIE RUINEN VON EUROPA

“I was Hamlet. I stood on the coast and spoke with the surf BLABLA. At my back, the ruins of Europe. The bells sounded in the state funeral, murderer and widow a pair, the town councillors in goose-step behind the coffin of the High Cadaver, wailing in badly-paid grief: Who is the corpse in the meat-wagon’s sty?” Heiner Müller’s influential play “Die Hamletmaschine” forms the spine of this disquieting “crossover documentary” about contemporary Europe. Our guide through this cinematic “howl” is a young Parisienne poet. We watch, we listen and “quo vadis Europe?” asks the film; “Are we falling apart?” While it may appear surreal, the film rises from reality.