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The Enigma Which Is The Modern City

The Enigma Which Is The Modern City

The Modern City, six film essays on the new urbanity of the 1950s and 60s [Original title: Die moderne Stadt], DVD in German, Danish, Swedish with subtitles in English, German, et al. edited by Ralph Eue and Florian Wüst, published by Absolut Medien, 2015.

One thing is clear. After roughly 100 years of modern architecture, the city is still the ultimate frontier for the discipline. Ralph Eue and Florian Wüst have gone back three generations to highlight six very diverse films that tackle urban modernity after WWII. Their selection of black and white documentaries are eye-openers. Our grandparents lived very different lives and the storytelling and documentary style might appear quirky to a younger audience, but this only strengthens the general premises of the selected films: our general uneasiness with the anonymous and industrial scale of modern urban life. 

Still from ‘Behind the Same Facades’.

Still from ‘Behind the Same Facades’.

The shock waves of outrage and disgust that Le Corbusier created with the Plan Voisin, a proposal for the radical modernisation of Paris in the 1920s, have all but disappeared. One of the radical renovators and a contemporary of Le Corbusier was Ernst May. He is the protagonist of the second feature of the collection: ‘For A Place Under The Sun’. May epitomises the figure of the omnipotent planner. Although not entirely intended by the film’s authors, he comes across as a patronising uncle who knows what is best for his children. This discrepancy between an imposed freedom and the rejection of variety and self-expression accounts for much of the eerie ambiance present in all of the films.

The Plan Voisin (1925) foresaw the destruction and reconstruction of Paris.

The Plan Voisin (1925) foresaw the destruction and reconstruction of Paris.

To highlight the malaise the six films use very different techniques and narratives. The Danish film ‘Behind The Same Facades’ for example - and it is laudable for that reason - lets the inhabitants of the modern city talk. It features candid interviews with people of different ages and backgrounds who chose to live in a suburban modern housing estate in Copenhagen. By contrast, the first film, ‘A Day In The City’ is a wacky surrealist take on the topic. And - attention spoiler! - at the end they let it all explode. 

Another still from ‘Behind the Same Facades’.

Another still from ‘Behind the Same Facades’.

I am not sure if an explosion of whatever kind is going to be helpful to alleviate the pains of modernity. But Ralph Eue’s and Florian Wüst’s excellent selection gives us a reason to pause, take a deep breath and start afresh at the still unsolved puzzle of what is the best, ideal (modern?) - our city.

Die Moderne Stadt, Editors: Ralph Eue and Florian Wüst, DVD, code free PAL b/w, 4:3, Languages: Danish, German, Swedish, Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish, absolut MEDIEN, 2015