Pina (Wim Winders 2011): Germany

Reviewed by Jan Mclaughlin at Santa Barbara International Film Festival

   Pina Bausch, one of the Most  influential figures in European contemporary dance for the past  35 years  created a fusion of dance and radical theatre known as Tanztheater. She left Germany to contine  as a scholarship student in dance at Julliard. She performed with the Metropolitan Opera  and with choreographer Paul Taylor in New York. In 1972 Bausch became artistic director of Wuppertal Opera Ballet in Germany and later renamed it Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch that toured throughout the world.

Wim Wenders direction (Buena Vista Social Club, Paris Texas) takes the audience on a visually sensual journey from stage into the city of Wuppertal the home of Pina’s creativity.Wenders had met the choreographer when her company performed “Cafe Muller” and “Rite of Spring” in Venice in 1985. He and Bausch had discussed making a film throughout their friendship. 

PINA is a feature length dance film in 3D with ensemble of dancers known as Tanztheatre Wuppertal Pina Bausch. It features the unique art of the German choreographer who passed away two days before the scheduled test shoot at the age of 68. For some that might have been the end of the documentary production but director Wim Wenders armed himself with a new approach, instead of presenting Bausch herself he would make a film from the memories of the dancers that seemed to know her best. 

Show casing four of her most famous works ” Rite of spring” (with dirt), “Kontakthof”, “Cafe Muller” (with chairs) and “Vollmond”. PINA also features interviews with her dancers describing to the audience their first impressions of the choreographer. One dancer said about the only thing Pina said to her in 20 years was “you just have to get crazier”, one male dancer described her as a panther ” she had a penetrating gaze”,  another said Pina could see something in him that we was afraid of. A strikingly tall young redheaded dancer new to the company (Anna Wehsarg) said she knew she would have to pull herself up from her hair. The dancers exposed their bodies and their flaws. They all agreed she drew the best out in them, she would ask them the question “what are you longing for”?

Female male interaction is a theme found throughout her work. Bausch’s choreography has a lot of repetitive twitching movements and her large multi media pieces have dancers working on a stage covered with tons of soil or cascading water.There is one quirky scene of a women dancing with raw veal in her pointe shoes. I noticed the use of red high heels in PINA and I couldn”t help but think of the 1948 Ballet film “The Red Shoes”. It was also reguarded  for it’s creative use of technicolor similar to the creative use of 3D in PINA. PINA is nominated for an Oscar for best documentary feature.