Weekend Viewing: World on a Wire

01

Video

—01. Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

Words

Welt am Draht, or World on a Wire, is a truly peculiar film. Based on the book Simulacron-3 by Daniel Galouye, legendary German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder turns the existentialist piece of literature into to a Sci-fi film that oozes style in a way that other films in the genre couldn't imagine. World on a Wire was wildly ahead of its time in every sense, close to every scene is a revelation in one way or another. This was the first film to suggest we are all living in some form of simulated world, beating The Matrix to this idea by about 30 years. Never before, or since, has a Sci-fi film with such complex themes been handled in such a darkly comic way, thanks in great deal to the absurdly stern lead performance from Klaus Lowitsch. This film was lost for decades, but was recently resurrected by The Criterion Collection, and it is only a matter of time before it is listed with Godard's Alphaville and Tarkovsky's Stalker as one of the great Sci-fi films of all time.

—Available from Criterion

Comments

[onewontdo]

Great science fiction film and a visual triumph, but the film is just on a different category from Stalker, and so the two films should not be compared. Plot is rather redundant/simplictic and production value was something to be desired; not at all up to the standards of theatrical release at the time of release. While the visual innovations and the story structure keeps viewers engaged throughout, the film could have been easily cut down to two and a half hour or shorter to benefit from potency. Regardless, I am glad to see this science fiction jewel mentioned, and would definitely reccomend readers to give it a try, if you have enjoyed the trailer.