Review of Pina (2011) by Jonathan D — 12 Mar 2013

Director Wim Wenders helped bring "The Buena Vista Social Club" to American attention, and now he examines the daring German choreographer Pina Bausch and her dance company.

Mostly this film consists of choreographic excepts, intermingled with interviews of ensemble members, some of whom are young and others who have been working with Bausch for decades. The dance work shown often takes a longer work and cuts it into pieces a few minutes in length - which are long enough to get you into the spirit of the choreography, and what makes it daring and special.

It opens up with scenes from "The Rite of Sping". This is the work I'd first heard of by her, but had never seen. She fills the stage with earth. In this piece and several others, there is a theme of women abused. Where in some versions of The Rite, "The Chosen" who dances herself to death is seen as an honor, here, girls present themselves in turn filled with fear, and relief when they are passed over. Once selected, there is a sense that she is being brutalized, although the choreography is more dramatic than vulgar.

In another piece, "Cafe Muller", a dancer performs - while blindfolded! - across a stage littered with chairs. It falls upon another individual to rush ahead, removing the chairs from her way, as she performs seemingly unaware.

These two pieces were strong enough to make me eat these scenes up and want to see her ensemble live some day. Not everything was so successful. Some pieces seemed to be more about gestures than real dramatic movement. There is a running theme that begins the movie. Bausch illustrates four hand gestures, each symbolizing a season. Then a line of maybe 40 dancers performs them in unison while marching across the stage. OK. This motif - of a line of performers doing these seasonal gestures shows up several times - often outdoors. One freedom that Wenders and Bausch were able to take is to be able to set some dances in unexpected places: in public parks, on the street, in a vacant warehouse, and even within a monorail car.

The weakest part of the film is the interviews. Wenders does something strange and cold. All of the interviewees are shown seated, unspeaking, in front of a panel, while their reflections on working with Pina Bausch are played as a voice over. We hear them, but their lips don't move. Why? Worse, rarely did I find that what any of these dancers had to say gave me particular insight into the work. It was so often on a personal level: "She encouraged me to be fearless. She would not tell me what to do but to explore myself". Ho hum.

These interviews are a small part of the film, and if modern dance interests you, this is a low-risk experience available on Netflix. Scenes from "The Rite of Spring" show up early, and you'll quickly see whether this is a film for you.