Death in Reverse: How Cinema of the Eastern Bloc Documented the Fall of Communism and How it Upended the Normal Course of Death, Both Literal and Metaphorical

Author

John Samuel Brown, University of MontanaFollow

Graduation Year

2020

Graduation Month

December

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

School or Department

English

Major

English – Creative Writing

Faculty Mentor Department

English

Faculty Mentor

Ashby Kinch

Keywords

Film, Krystof Kieslowski, Andrei Tarkovsky, Aleksei German, Wim Wenders, Death

Subject Categories

Other Film and Media Studies | Other History

Abstract

A visual essay on four filmmakers: Andrei Tarkovsky, Krystof Kieslowski, Wim Wenders, and Aleksei German, as they witness the fall of Communism and its aftermath. But something interesting happens along the way; these filmmakers document an upending of the traditional order of death. In their films, death becomes the first thing the dying go through, and then its precedents follow. These deaths are largely metaphorical, but they paint a picture of the communal death and individual rebirth that so many had to endure with the dismissal of an entire way of being. This was not easy or painless, and ultimate physical rebirth was never guaranteed, but in studying their works, one can come to understand some aspect of what it means to live again after a revolution, one similarly brewing in 2020.

Honors College Research Project

Yes

GLI Capstone Project

no

Recommended Citation

Brown, John Samuel, "Death in Reverse: How Cinema of the Eastern Bloc Documented the Fall of Communism and How it Upended the Normal Course of Death, Both Literal and Metaphorical" (2020). Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts. 308.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/utpp/308