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Resistance Against Itself: Austrian Cinema’s Responses to the Far-Right

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Nationalism in Contemporary Western European Cinema

Part of the book series: Palgrave European Film and Media Studies ((PEFMS))

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Abstract

This chapter examines Austrian cinema’s treatment of the far-right since the late 1990s. After an overview of the post-1945 development of the Austrian far-right Freedom Party, this chapter briefly discuss how the more prominent examples of critical Austrian cinema since the 1990s have primarily taken an indirect response to the far-right’s ascent. The chapter will then offer detailed readings of three films that adopt a more direct approach: the omnibus film, Zur Lage: Österreich in sechs Kapiteln, (Michael Glawogger, Michael Sturminger, Barbara Albert and Ulrich Seidl, 2002); Franz Fuchs: ein Patriot (Elisabeth Scharang, 2007) and finally, Todespolka (Michael Pfeifenberger, 2010). Examining the considerable stylistic differences and the different contexts that these three films address will reveal their attempts to raise political consciousness, shape historical awareness, and enact critique of the populist far-right, illustrating as well their sensitivities to the dynamics of representing the far-right and their shared concern for engagement with the political sphere.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For more on this referendum see Kryzanowski and Wodak (2009: 103–5), and Gärtner (2002: 23–6).

  2. 2.

    All translations in this chapter are by the author.

  3. 3.

    For more on the positive and negative impacts of these measures see Wodak et al. (2009: 223–7).

  4. 4.

    See Krylova (2017: 10–15) for a comprehensive overview of the civic response to the election.

  5. 5.

    For a full analysis of Strache’s electoral strategies, see Wodak (2015: 134–48).

  6. 6.

    Examples of this range of films include documentaries, such as Ulrich Seidl’s Good News (1990) or Ed Moschitz’s Mama Illegal (2011), as well as feature films, such as Houchang Allahyari’s Geboren in Absurdistan (Born in Absurdistan) (1999), Erwin Wagenhofer’s Black Brown White (2011) or Sudabeh Mortezai’s Macondo (2015).

  7. 7.

    Another indirect response to the far-right can be found in films that are set in different historical periods, but whose depictions of authoritarianism and exclusionary violence are clearly reflections on contemporary society. Such examples include Michael Haneke’s Das weiße Band (The White Ribbon) (2009) and Andreas Prochaska’s Das finstere Tal (Dark Valley) (2014).

  8. 8.

    The FPÖ is the subject of a previous critical documentary , Helmut Grasser’s Die Wahlkämpfer (The Campaigners) (1993), but its electoral victory in 1999 prompted numerous filmic responses, such as Ruth Beckermann’s homemad(e) (2001) or British filmmaker Frederick Baker’s retrospective on the resistance, Widerstand in Haiderland (Resistance in Haider-land) (2010). Belgian filmmaker Nathalie Borgers examined the phenomenon of the party’s former leader in her Fang den Haider (Catch Haider) (2015).

  9. 9.

    “Zur Lage sollte ein Film sein, der genauer auf Österreich schaut. Einer, der sich Selbstgefälligkeit und Alltag widersetzen und Menschen in unserer Gesellschaft kritisch widerspiegeln will. Ein Widerstandsfilm also, aber einer gegen uns selbst” (N.N. 2002b).

  10. 10.

    Seidl further undermines the song’s traditional folk context by clothing the men not in Lederhosen, but modern business attire.

  11. 11.

    Andreas Gruber’s 2004 film, Welcome Home, reflects indirectly on the example of Omofuma through its depiction of a Ghanaian who is deported from Austria. When the film’s racist police officer who deports him is deprived of his passport in Ghana, however, the Ghanaian man must help the Austrian navigate the analogous situation he faced in Austria.

  12. 12.

    “Es kommt, wie es kommen muss.”

  13. 13.

    For Franz Fuchs, Markovics is cast against his previous role in Houchang Allahyari’s Geboren in Absurdistan (Born in Absurdistan) (1999), where he plays a hard-line bureaucrat who undergoes a change of heart through his interactions with the foreigners he is supposed to deport, a storyline his role repeated in Allahyari’s Die verrückte Welt der Ute Bock (The Crazy World of Ute Bock) (2010).

  14. 14.

    Scharang’s film indirectly addresses this historical context during interviews with two police officers, who explain how their search for the bomber led them to numerous suspects with similar viewpoints as Fuchs, none of whom translated them into actual violence.

  15. 15.

    The struggles for minority recognition, and right-wing backlash, for Carinthian Slovenians is the subject of the 2005 documentary , Artikel 7 – Unser Recht! by Thomas Korschil and Eva Simmler.

  16. 16.

    “Einzeltäter greifen in der Gesellschaft vorhandene Bedrohungsszenarien und Geschichtsbilder auf. Die Tat von Franz Fuchs hat in gewisser Weise das Klima widergespiegelt” (N.N. 2013).

  17. 17.

    See Fiddler (2011a) for detailed readings of these films.

  18. 18.

    A similar aesthetic is employed in Peter Kern’s aforementioned satire Haider lebt – 1. April 2021 (2002).

  19. 19.

    Even as a grotesque depiction of suburbia, Todespolka does not distinguish itself as especially shocking or disturbing when compared with such films as Harald Sicheritz’ comedies Muttertag (1993) and Hinterholz 8 (1998) or Ulrich Seidl’s drama Hundstage (2001). Similarly, the scene in Todespolka in which Rafael’s neighbours are astounded by the sado-maso basement studio can only pale in comparison with the real basement horrors of then recent cases sensationalized in the media: namely of Natascha Kampusch, who was held captive for eight years until her escape in 2006, and of Josef Fritzl, who held his daughter captive for twenty-four years until her release in 2008.

  20. 20.

    See Liebhart (2016: 73–5) and Wodak (2015: 143–8) for further discussion of far-right campaigns in Austria.

  21. 21.

    Another poster in the film declares “Wir sind die Retter des Abendlands” (We are the saviours of the Occident), which recalls FPÖ campaign posters calling for “Abendland in Christenhand” (The Occident in Christian hands).

  22. 22.

    For a discussion of Haider’s image construction, see Gingrich (2002: 70–81) and on Strache, see Wodak (2015: 136–41).

  23. 23.

    “Es geht vielmehr um die Fernwirkung politischen Handelns auf das leben einzelner Menschen, die Populisten gar nicht zur Kenntnis nehmen können oder wollen.[…]Was Politiker bei Wahlveranstaltungen in die Menge werfen, um Stimmung zu machen, kann im rechten Moment zu roher Gewalt führen. Dies in aller Radikalität verständlich zu machen, auch einem massenpublikum, war das Anliegen des Projektes Todespolka.” (Winsemann 2010).

  24. 24.

    “… ein entsetzlich vertrautes Österreich, das viel weniger überzeichnet wirkt als wünschenswert wäre …” (Brenner 2010).

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  1. Ohio University, Athens, OH, USA

    Nikhil Sathe

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Sathe, N. (2018). Resistance Against Itself: Austrian Cinema’s Responses to the Far-Right. In: Harvey, J. (eds) Nationalism in Contemporary Western European Cinema. Palgrave European Film and Media Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73667-9_10

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