One could not watch Fassbinder's "In A Year With 13 Moons" and not feel something close to depression. He has captured the actual emotion itself in its raw and natural form, and transposed it onto the screen in the form of Erwin/Elvira. With the help of Volker Spengler's uncanny performance, Fassbinder has forever changed the way film will deal with disintegration of the human spirit.
The opening scene depicts the main character being beat up by men after trying to have sex. This horrible situation paints the perfect image of the main character who is the epitome of being a victim. The tragic character of Erwin, a meat worker, fell in love with one of his coworkers Anton. Upon revealing his feelings to Anton, Erwin is told it would be fine if he were a woman. This begins the fall of Erwin. He goes to Casablanca and gets a sex change in hopes of being with Anton.
Elvira, Erwin's new identity, is just as much of a slave to Anton's wishes as Erwin was. Though Anton was only the first, Elvira's life is full of uneasy relationships where, in the end, Elvira finds herself alone and depressed. She had changed her whole life for Anton and when he finally finds out, he could care less. One can not help but feel for Elvira and her struggle to live happily.
There is a scene of cows being slaughtered while there is a long monologue by Elvira. The cows hang there helplessly as the butchers slit their throats and the blood flows freely. The scene is very hard to watch yet, one could not help but relate the kinship of Elvira and the cows. Elvira seems powerless to stop others from controlling/ruining her life and much like the cows Elvira is helpless as the world bleeds her of her life. The cows are stripped of their skin and thus their identity which is precisely what Anton has driven Erwin to do.
The most telling scene in the film, however, is one where Elvira watches a man hang himself in Anton's building. The man is another victim of Anton's and he believes that suicide is not the forfeit of ones life because there is no will to live, but rather it is the will to live that causes one to reject this life to live free of its oppression. This man shows Elvira a reflection of herself in another which perhaps she never thought of before due to living her life for others.
Truly depressing, "In A Year With 13 Moons" is absolutely a work of art with hints of melodrama, comedy, and character study. The collaboration of great acting and directing has brought life to the tragic Elvira and will evoke feeling in even the most close minded of viewers.
The opening scene depicts the main character being beat up by men after trying to have sex. This horrible situation paints the perfect image of the main character who is the epitome of being a victim. The tragic character of Erwin, a meat worker, fell in love with one of his coworkers Anton. Upon revealing his feelings to Anton, Erwin is told it would be fine if he were a woman. This begins the fall of Erwin. He goes to Casablanca and gets a sex change in hopes of being with Anton.
Elvira, Erwin's new identity, is just as much of a slave to Anton's wishes as Erwin was. Though Anton was only the first, Elvira's life is full of uneasy relationships where, in the end, Elvira finds herself alone and depressed. She had changed her whole life for Anton and when he finally finds out, he could care less. One can not help but feel for Elvira and her struggle to live happily.
There is a scene of cows being slaughtered while there is a long monologue by Elvira. The cows hang there helplessly as the butchers slit their throats and the blood flows freely. The scene is very hard to watch yet, one could not help but relate the kinship of Elvira and the cows. Elvira seems powerless to stop others from controlling/ruining her life and much like the cows Elvira is helpless as the world bleeds her of her life. The cows are stripped of their skin and thus their identity which is precisely what Anton has driven Erwin to do.
The most telling scene in the film, however, is one where Elvira watches a man hang himself in Anton's building. The man is another victim of Anton's and he believes that suicide is not the forfeit of ones life because there is no will to live, but rather it is the will to live that causes one to reject this life to live free of its oppression. This man shows Elvira a reflection of herself in another which perhaps she never thought of before due to living her life for others.
Truly depressing, "In A Year With 13 Moons" is absolutely a work of art with hints of melodrama, comedy, and character study. The collaboration of great acting and directing has brought life to the tragic Elvira and will evoke feeling in even the most close minded of viewers.