Why You Should See W.R.: The Mysteries of the Organism (Dusan Makavejev, 1971)



It's a documentary about the persecution of Wilhelm Reich by the US government. It's an avant-garde satire. It's a time capsule of a way of life, and a country, that no longer exist(though the actors in the Yugo portion of the film are largely Serbian, I was informed when I watched it with a Yugoslavian girl, a friend my friend Angel had brought over--in Chicago in 1989)It's a Yugoslavian softcore soap opera.


It's crazy and wonderful as fuck and it's one of my favorite films. It's from 1971, as a strangely large group of films I like are, and it's Dusan Makavejev's greatest film, W.R.: THE MYSTERIES OF THE ORGANISM. It is not like anything you will ever see, and it is not even a little afraid to be silly. It's a reminder that the avant-garde, the wing of it invented by Luis Bunuel--a wing Dusan very much occupies--is supposed to be fun.


To be play.

Also, I have a thing for Jagoda Kaloper, and she is part of the inspiration for Vladrushka's daughter Berlin. Oh look, there she is.


In fact, the whole way this film deals with the subject of sex, and mixing it with satire and philosophy, had an enormous effect on the comics I do now. (and you can see a quick reference to Dusan in Vladrushka here, and if I have to tell you by now anything to do with her is NSFW, then you're just dumb)


When there are movies like this, why the fuck should I care about Hollywood's garbage?


Now buy it here. Enjoy. Feel. Laugh.

Also, here are excerpts from two of Reich's books: Listen Little Man and the Function of the Orgasm. Anna Freud did her damnedest to eradicate him, but his unruly concepts that are no use to corporations live on.




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Labels: 1970s, communism, film, my comics, my influences, psychology, satire, vladrushka, Wilhelm Reich

  ¶ February 11, 2012