Pina

Overview

Director Wim Wenders is widely regarded as one of the leading auteurs to come out of the New German Cinema. He has a keen sense of how people relate to their surroundings, which he frequently employs to convey emotion. It appears throughout his work: from people confined by their space, and ergo their emotions, in the heart wrenching Paris, Texas; to those shut out, in the case of the angel in Wings of Desire, who wants to escape the shackles of his immortal existence on the periphery of human existence and enter it fully.

His latest feature is a documentary about his long time friend and renowned choreographer, Pina Bausch, and her dance company at the Tanztheater Wuppertal, which she led for more than 35 years. Sadly, she passed away a few days before filming was due to commence, turning this project into a tribute, rather than a collaboration. Using 3D technology, Wim Wenders gets into the dancers' space, as they perform a selection of Pina's innovative and ground breaking pieces, along with individual solo performance by the dancers themselves, interviews and silent portraits. With their skilful movements they express a whole array of emotions.

Pina Bausch was acutely perceptive and her choreography is an investigation into how humans project their feelings onto the space around them and onto each other. Her dancers were always actively involved in the creative process and you can see how they have channeled this into their movements. The 3D brings you so close to them, it is as though you are catching a glimpse of their souls. In this context, it hardly seems surprising that these two artists, Wim Wenders and Pina Bausch, should have experienced such a meeting of the minds.

The challenge of capturing the essence of Pina Bausch's work on film is aptly met by the choice of 3D by Wim Wenders, though the technology is not without its pitfalls, as he freely admits. There is at times a slight feeling of distortion, the depth of field a little out, lending ironically this most "real" of mediums, a slightly "unreal" feel. Though this could be partly a trick of perception, the language of 3D as it is, yet to be defined by filmmakers or learned by viewers.

With cuts between performances inside the theatre and outside around Wuppertal, along with interviews, silent portraits and solo performances, the structure of the documentary feels a little stilted at the start. However, it soon finds its rhythm, the editing technique somehow beginning to mirror the pace of the dancing and you are drawn in closer to the beauty and raw emotion on screen.

Watching these very visceral performances in 3D, which at times feature the real elements of earth and water on stage, or take place outside, senses are heightened and it is almost as though you can to feel, touch and smell it all. It is a very intense experience, which brings you really close to the dance Pina Bausch created and to her unique insight into the human condition.