Može li Klaus Kinski biti novi Isus? Ako Isus ne može spasiti njega, može li Kinski spasiti Isusa?
Dokumentarac o pokušaju (nitko nije prorok u svome selu).
On November 20 1971, Klaus Kinski wanted “to tell mankind's most exciting story - The story of Jesus Christ”. But he couldn't. The stage performance of the scandal-ridden actor kept being interrupted by an audience that did not want a sermon, but a discussion instead.
“Jesus Christ Saviour” by Peter Geyer shows a tumultuous evening of back and forth insults, the struggle of an actor to have his say, a theatrical happening in a time critical of authority and the spectacular failure of an attempt to better the world through literary means. Making use of all available picture and sound clips from the evening, Geyer creates an intimate impression of the live experience, a testimony to an extraordinary moment and an exceptional artist.
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Berlin, Deutschlandhalle, November 20 th 1971. Kinski emerges into a lone spotlight on an empty stage. Shoulder length hair, plain jeans, a shirt with flower and polka dot patterns. No set, no stage effects, no costume. By reciting his own version of the New Testament's “Jesus Christ Saviour”, he realizes a project well over 10 years in the making.
It is the time of the Hippie movement, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical “Jesus Christ Superstar” is celebrating a sensational success in Germany as well. It is also a time of nonviolent resistance.
But Kinski's JESUS is not some Hippie Happening. It is to be a highly emotional, highly personal recount of “mankind's most exciting story: The Story of Jesus Christ…the freest and most modern of all men, who prefers to be massacred rather than fester alive with all the others. About a man who is the way we all would like to be. You and I”.
Klaus Kinski's reputation in Germany is that of an eccentric provocateur. As his last theatre performance was back in 1962, most people only know him as a quirky film actor with his best days already behind him. The theatre managers fear a blasphemous program and hesitate making a commitment. Many believe that Kinski identifies himself with his protagonist and wants to present himself as the new Jesus, the spokesman of a youth movement.
The film “Jesus Christ Saviour” by Peter Geyer shows the nightlong struggle of an actor to get to speak his lines. The performance in Berlin's Deutschlandhalle was to be the start of a planned worldwide tour. The intro features the posters all over town, the audience streaming in, full of expectations, and the police overseeing their entry.
When Kinski appears, his voice quiet but intense as he recites his first lines in the form of a ‘wanted poster' (“Wanted: Jesus Christ”), it takes all of five minutes before the first interruptions start. Kinski reacts – he appends his line “he never wears a uniform” with “ and doesn't have a big mouth ” directed to the heckler - and the first commotion begins.
There is resistance against the Kinski sermon, doubt as to his authority to embody Jesus. Scattered and derisive remarks can be heard throughout the audience (“He already made his millions from the movies”). Very few of the 3000-5000 spectators have come to listen to him. They want to provoke him, to discuss with him and to bring a street fight into the hall. They cannot tolerate someone standing on stage and proclaiming “eternal truths”. They merely perceive the artist as some self-proclaimed leader or messiah.
After several interruptions Kinski leaves, comes back and is interrupted again, invites someone on stage whom he then cuts off and insults as a “stupid pig”. Finally, after numerous false starts, he calls off the show with great regrets but not before having hurled more and more bible quotes at his audience.
Just as his spectators believe that Kinski wants to be Jesus, he too transforms them into the Pharisees whom Jesus must defend himself against. “Whichever one of you not only has a big mouth but is really without sin, he shall throw the first stone” or “If only you were hot, or at least cold, but you are lukewarm, and I spit you out!”, these are just two samples of this breathtaking, verbal meltdown.
Among improvised “shut up” commands, “woe unto you…” threats with pointed finger, appeals to the troublemakers not to ruin the evening for those who are interested, Kinski attempts to speak his “30 typewritten pages”, becoming increasingly more emotional and exasperated under the building tension. The event manager pleads with the audience: “Please let Mr. Kinski speak his text, then you will be able to speak!” Provocations can be heard from the audience such as “phrase monger!”, “you spread hate!”, “asshole!”. During intermission a spectator grabs a microphone and calls Kinski a fascist, while another comes on stage and preaches with a quote “You shall recognize them by their deeds!”.
Kinski later writes in his autobiography “All I Need is Love”: “ This is just like 2000 years ago. This riffraff is even more fucked up than the Pharisees. At least they let Jesus finish talking before nailing him to the cross”.
But there is an epilogue.
After the Deutschlandhalle is almost empty, save for a hundred some dedicated holdouts, Kinski appears in their midst and finally speaks his complete text, exhausted and in a quiet but hoarse voice, from beginning to end. A rapt and devout mood takes hold, with some in the half darkness folding their hands.
“My exhaustion seems to have ebbed away”, Kinski writes later. “I don't feel my body anymore. At 2 a.m., everything is over”.
Peter Geyer's film is a unique document, not only about an era that questioned authority and had a difficult relationship with the arts, that did not want to listen but instead discuss - but also about an artist in his creative process. Kinski's recital, his constantly new approach to his lines, his improvised reactions to the disturbances, his almost physical commitment to speaking his text till the bitter end, the ever varying voice, the tears appearing twice during his performance – all of this is a frozen snapshot of the highest tension, concentration and poetry.
The film shows the progression of the evening– as a fully closed, dramatically and emotionally self-sufficient document.
The art of the text imparts itself similar to the commotion in the hall, and the atmosphere becomes as palpable as Kinski's stage presence and inner conflict. The live performance is intercut only with some quick impression shots from inside and outside the hall, as well as several quotes from Kinski's autobiography.
And so November 20 th , 1971 will become “An evening with Klaus Kinski” in cinema as well. After years of only having an audio track of the evening available, we finally have the opportunity to witness in its entirety this terrific failure of a stage-sermon. Peter Geyer, administrator of the Kinski Estate, has reconstructed a fascinating piece of history in the making with the audiovisual material at his disposal.
“Shut up and follow me!” (Klaus Kinski in the Deutschlandhalle, 20.11.1971)
Klaus Kinski's Legacy Lives on in JESUS CHRISTUS ERLÖSER
Special thanks to Twitch's own Ardvark for providing German translation for this piece.
At times, Klaus Kinski's reputation as a provocateur seemed to
overshadow his prowess as an actor. Peter Geyer's new full-length
documentary Jesus Christus Erlöser (Jesus Christ Saviour) seems
to support the notion that prevarication was an integral and inseparable
part of the actor's work. Geyer's film documents Klaus Kinski's
November 20th, 1971 theatrical reading at Deutschlandhalle in Berlin. It
was on this evening that the golden-locked, hippy-garbed Kinski engaged
an audience of thousands in a reading of a 30 plus page interpretation
of the story of Jesus Christ.
The audience quickly took umbrage at Kinski's readings, and the evening turned into a multiple-hour battle of heated words and raised fists. Scenes from this event were very briefly featured in Werner Herzog's documentary Mein Liebster Feind (My Best Fiend) but Geyer reconstructs the evening's events using extensive, previously unseen footage. What might Kinski have done to create such a scene? Transcription of brief German language clips available on the film's web site indicate that Kinski did a lot.
The audience quickly took umbrage at Kinski's readings, and the evening turned into a multiple-hour battle of heated words and raised fists. Scenes from this event were very briefly featured in Werner Herzog's documentary Mein Liebster Feind (My Best Fiend) but Geyer reconstructs the evening's events using extensive, previously unseen footage. What might Kinski have done to create such a scene? Transcription of brief German language clips available on the film's web site indicate that Kinski did a lot.
His presentation and words struck many as an attempt to present
himself as Christ. Instead of calmly responding to the audience, Kinski
went on the offensive. For example, after someone stated that shouting
down people who disagreed with him was unlike Christ, Kinski responded
with a different take on how Christ might respond: “No, he didn’t say
'shut your mouths', he took a whip and beat them. That’s what he did,
you stupid sow!" In another scene, he brow beats the audience by saying
"can’t you see that when someone lectures thirty typewritten pages of
text in this way, that you must shut your mouths? If you can’t see that,
please let someone bang it into your brain with a hammer!” The
evening's festivities also turned physical as an audience member is
shown getting bounced from the stage by a bodyguard. Someone responds
that “Kinski just let his bodyguard push a peaceful guy, who only wanted
to have a discussion, down the stairs! That is a fascist statement,
Kinski is a fascist, a psychopath!”
Jesus Christus Erlöser is in the German language and is available with English subtitles. The film is currently playing festival dates throughout Europe. As of this date, there is no distribution in North America or the United Kingdom. One can hope that a thoughtful distributor will bring this film to a worldwide audience in the near future. Jesus Christus Erlöser looks to be an exciting, if not unnerving, glimpse into the bent personality of one of the 20th century's greatest actors.
Jesus Christus Erlöser is in the German language and is available with English subtitles. The film is currently playing festival dates throughout Europe. As of this date, there is no distribution in North America or the United Kingdom. One can hope that a thoughtful distributor will bring this film to a worldwide audience in the near future. Jesus Christus Erlöser looks to be an exciting, if not unnerving, glimpse into the bent personality of one of the 20th century's greatest actors.
Klaus Kinski: Jesus Christ Erloser
For years, clips of Klaus Kinski’s onstage rampage in Werner Herzog’s documentary My Best Fiend
haunted me. I had been familiar with this actor’s eccentric,
tantrum-filled personality. After all who can forget his endearing lines
to Walter Saxer – “Come on, lick my **s man, we’re making a movie!” –
during the filming of Fitzcarraldo. Or his blowup during a marriage in Rome, or his blowup in Cannes during a Q&A for his last film Paganini…the list is endless.
The scene I am referring to is a clip from Kinski’s spoken word performance in 1971 Jesus Christ Saviour (Jesus Christus Erlöser ). It showed a megalomaniac who saw himself as the savior, and when pacific members of the audience attempted to have their say, they got a mouthful from the performer, even violently shoved. Eruptions ended with Kinski storming off the stage.
Luckily I read somewhere that the clip, in some way was taken out of context. In that description, it said that after most people left, Kinski returned to complete the performance, and those who stayed behind were treated to the rendition they were suppose to see. I recently revisited a favorite film from my childhood: Roman Polanski’s Tess. I found it so rewarding, I attempted to dig up Jesus Chrisus Erloser, and have a closer look at the man who fathered Natassja Kinski.
And what I found, was that the clip grossly misrepresented Kinski. If you watch the entire performance (below in 9 parts), you will note that Kinski was brutally heckled from the first sentence onward. Members of the audience did not let up even after two walk-offs. The piece itself, a monologue of the New Testament spanning some 30 written pages is a gorgeous creation that delves into the depth of the human condition, a vehicle that enabled the unblinking Kinski to display a talent that some have said made Brando’s work look like child’s play.
In a way, the audience heckling was transforming. Even if Kinski began the night to deliver a portrait of Jesus, by the end of the night – through repeated crucifixions and taunting from the faceless black hall- he was transfigured into his subject. Some have speculated that the hecklers were part of the program, but what I saw was the true anxiety of an artist who was devoted to his craft, and had to make it through 30 pages on memory alone. Heckling a person during such a tightrope act would be akin to bringing an electric keyboard to a concert hall and playing during a Rachmaninov piano recital. I don’t know who these people were, but I found the sight of them casually strolling on stage to add their two bits appalling.
It should be noted that German audiences are known for being hostile. I heard somewhere that jazz musicians who returned to festivals with the same material the second year could expect airborne legumes, fruits, and assorted nightshades. Or perhaps they just weren’t that familiar with the spoken format in a large hall. Long before the likes of Karen Finley and Eric Bogosian, Kinski blazed a trail, turning a simple reading into a metatextual entity, most probably not of his choice.
After the credits roll (Part 9/9), and almost everyone has left, Kinski returns to perform for a small group of faithful listeners, who recognized Jesus Christ Saviour ( Jesus Christus Erlöser ) as a creation worthy of attention. Kinski walks among the group, talking in a hushed calm voice. Much to filmmaker Peter Geyer’s credit, beautiful shots of audience members listening are immersed in the performer’s words. Not to be missed! - Pristine Angie
The scene I am referring to is a clip from Kinski’s spoken word performance in 1971 Jesus Christ Saviour (Jesus Christus Erlöser ). It showed a megalomaniac who saw himself as the savior, and when pacific members of the audience attempted to have their say, they got a mouthful from the performer, even violently shoved. Eruptions ended with Kinski storming off the stage.
Luckily I read somewhere that the clip, in some way was taken out of context. In that description, it said that after most people left, Kinski returned to complete the performance, and those who stayed behind were treated to the rendition they were suppose to see. I recently revisited a favorite film from my childhood: Roman Polanski’s Tess. I found it so rewarding, I attempted to dig up Jesus Chrisus Erloser, and have a closer look at the man who fathered Natassja Kinski.
And what I found, was that the clip grossly misrepresented Kinski. If you watch the entire performance (below in 9 parts), you will note that Kinski was brutally heckled from the first sentence onward. Members of the audience did not let up even after two walk-offs. The piece itself, a monologue of the New Testament spanning some 30 written pages is a gorgeous creation that delves into the depth of the human condition, a vehicle that enabled the unblinking Kinski to display a talent that some have said made Brando’s work look like child’s play.
In a way, the audience heckling was transforming. Even if Kinski began the night to deliver a portrait of Jesus, by the end of the night – through repeated crucifixions and taunting from the faceless black hall- he was transfigured into his subject. Some have speculated that the hecklers were part of the program, but what I saw was the true anxiety of an artist who was devoted to his craft, and had to make it through 30 pages on memory alone. Heckling a person during such a tightrope act would be akin to bringing an electric keyboard to a concert hall and playing during a Rachmaninov piano recital. I don’t know who these people were, but I found the sight of them casually strolling on stage to add their two bits appalling.
It should be noted that German audiences are known for being hostile. I heard somewhere that jazz musicians who returned to festivals with the same material the second year could expect airborne legumes, fruits, and assorted nightshades. Or perhaps they just weren’t that familiar with the spoken format in a large hall. Long before the likes of Karen Finley and Eric Bogosian, Kinski blazed a trail, turning a simple reading into a metatextual entity, most probably not of his choice.
After the credits roll (Part 9/9), and almost everyone has left, Kinski returns to perform for a small group of faithful listeners, who recognized Jesus Christ Saviour ( Jesus Christus Erlöser ) as a creation worthy of attention. Kinski walks among the group, talking in a hushed calm voice. Much to filmmaker Peter Geyer’s credit, beautiful shots of audience members listening are immersed in the performer’s words. Not to be missed! - Pristine Angie
The Mouth of Madness: Kinski Jesus Christ Saviour
If you´re a German actor with an ambition to become notorious outside your homecountry, it helps to be (or act) blond, very evil and very, very mad. In short: It helps if you are Klaus Kinski.The opening sequence of Werner Herzog´s obscene but funny "Mein liebster Feind/My best fiend" shows Kinski on stage in one of his most legendary and disastrous performances. Nicknamed "The Jesus Show", it was Kinski´s most ambitious project.
He planned to do a world tour with him telling the story of Jesus Christ according to Klaus Kinski. The brilliantly and fiendishly titled "Kinski Jesus Christus Erlöser" imploded in an explosion of rage and ended right there during the first perfomance.
In leaving out any punctuation the German title is a twisted moebius-strip of meanings. "Kinski Jesus Christ Saviour", who is who and who is saving whom?
A few weeks ago "Jesus Christus Erlöser" had its debut at the Berlinale and is now released theatrically. The film is a documentary by Peter Geyer, who painstakingly assembled most of the existing footage of this particular evening in 1971.
Kinski had rented the "Deutschlandhalle", a huge stadium/arena to do his one man performance. Dressed in blue, lit by a white spot on a gigantic empty stage, he tried to tell his story of Jesus Christ, the revolutionary. Not the Jesus of organised religion. He only came so far before hecklers in the audience started to piss him off. And he was very easy to piss of!
It´s here where the film gets really interesting as it shows a passionate, temperamental artist who has worked hard to gain a reputation of being a raging lunatic.
The hippie audience, oblivious to anything but their worldview, obviously paid to see the mad Kinski they saw in the talksshows (keep in mind that this was before the Herzog films). So they continued to interrupt him and wanted to "discuss" with Kinski even before his performance had actually started! Audience participation at its worst!
They evoked the madman and he delivered in spades! Here is an edited clip, which is actually the opening of "My best fiend". I decided to use it because it is subtitled.
"Jesus Christus Erlöser" is 84 minutes of time travel into a world that doesn´t exist anymore. For starters we don´t have any personalities like Kinski and any actor who would rent a large auditorium to tell his Jesus story would probably make millions as a TV-evangelist. Oh, and nobody had photo-mobiles back then.
This is actually the first docmentary about Kinski that makes you feel for him!
Let´s face it: Herzog´s "My best fiend" is a freak-show! It´s a cowardly, post-mortem exploitation of the Kinski cliche. It answers more un-asked questions about the director than his subject. Of course it´s hilarious and entertaining, but at the same time it is hardly more than pure spectacle.
In Beyer´s film we get to see a man with a vision who is misguided by his ego and unable to switch off his act. (Why did he play before thousands of people when he only wanted to speak to a few?)
It is also a very telling document of the interaction between audience and performer. The generation of ´68 who tries to come to terms with the fascism of their parents, rears its ugly head when it tries to shout down something they don´t care to understand. Instead they want to see the clown dance, because they paid for it.
And outside, around this time, the RAF (Red Army Fraction) released their manifesto "Das Konzept Stadtguerilla" ("The Cityguerilla Concept"). A call to arms for both sides... - destinyclontz.blogspot.com/
Jesus Christus Erlöser
Prilozi evanđelju o Isusu Kinskom:
...a tu je i njegov film (scenarij, montaža i režija) o Paganiniju:
Of all the hedonistic madmen the cinema has produced, Klaus Kinski may be among the wildest. Kinski's notorious mania and unstable emotional state on film sets is the stuff of legend. His persona even inspired his frequent collaborator, Werner Herzog, to compose a documentary about their relationship titled My Best Fiend. In his later years, the passion to drove his performances to artistic heights unseen by most actors, became a hindrance to his ability to work for anyone, and so was born Kinski's final film, Paganini, more commonly known as Kinski/Paganini.
Paganini was Kinski's passion project. A biography of an infamous violin prodigy who is generally regarded as one of the finest musicians who ever lived. Nicolo Paganini's life was full of controversy, and his performances were legendarily raw and explosive. His off-stage persona was just as mystical and wild as his performances on stage. Kinski saw himself in Paganini's story, he saw a man with an immense talent who was misunderstood and hamstrung by the community of which he found himself a part. The story parallels Kinski's own in more than one way, leading many people to consider this biopic to be almost autobiographical in its nature. Certainly, as the writer, star, and director, he had no one interfering with this becoming his ultimate statement of his persona on screen.
The film itself is a bizarre experience, nearly completely without dialogue and filmed almost completely in natural light, Kinski/Paganini almost feels like a black mass. The film opens with about 10 minutes of Paganini ferociously attacking his violin, lit only by the burning footlights of a stage, as well as ravenously attacking young girls and devouring them whole. The opening reminds one of the great Amadeus in its depiction of a musical wunderkind who is a petulant child in his off hours, however, Amadeus rights itself fairly quickly after setting up it's characters, whereas Kinski/Paganini continues down the non-narrative rabbit hole for one hundred more minutes.
This isn't to say that the film isn't worth watching, on the contrary, it is a brilliant depiction of something, but whether that "something" is a depiction of the demons ravaging Kinski's mind or Nicolo Paganini's soul on screen is debatable. We whip back and forth with mad abandon between Paganini on stage and Paganini in bed with young girls, in fields with young girls, everywhere with young girls. There is some fairly graphic sexual content in this film, no penetration, but there appears to be at least one girl who is serviced by Kinski in a way that sure as shit doesn't look faked. To say that Kinski threw himself into the role would be an understatement. Kinski felt that he was Paganini, a passionate genius who led a life that was to be envied and misunderstood, and he reveled in the role.
Sadly, Kinski/Paganini was not only Kinski's first directorial effort, it was also his last, and his last feature starring role as he passed away two years later. However, if ever an artist went out with a bang, it was Klaus Kinski. Kinski/Paganini is confirmation of everything anyone ever said about the actor and his megalomania and explosive personality, it is all up there on screen, and it is mind-blowingly self-indulgent, wild, nihilistic, and impenetrable, just like the man. A fitting tribute.
Kinski/Paganini is one of those films that has bored its way into my mind whether I wanted it to or not. When I first watched it, I was underwhelmed, but upon reflection, it really is something different, and I have to give Kinski points for that, at least. I can't say it's an enjoyable film, or a particularly great film, but it is an ambitious film, and it is all Kinski. I don't know if you can consider that a recommendation, but I'm certainly glad I've now seen it. - J Hurtado
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