Perhaps good things do happen if you wait — I finally saw a movie in 3-D where the process belonged, and actually made the movie more enjoyable. Of course, it’s a spectacularly beautiful piece of work, a documentary about the great German choreographer and dancer, Pina Bausch, written and directed by Wim Wenders, a leader in the modern German film movement of the 1970s and still a brilliant writer and director. The movie is nominated for an Academy Award for best foreign-language feature.
“Pina” is one of the rare movies that you feel was not long enough. I wanted more — more dance, more music, more interviews with the dancers talking about her.
And that’s another strange part of the story. Bausch was 68 when she died of a particularly invasive cancer, only five days after she was diagnosed, and a mere two days before Wenders and his crew started shooting. The German city of Wuppental, the home base of her company, served as the location, under the monorail that rolls above the main street, alongside the river that rumbles by.
Under the guidance of Wenders, co-directors of photography Helene Louvart and Jorg Wiidmer, and editor Teri Froschhammer show remarkable talent. Wenders’ work in the documentary field includes the wonderful “The Buena Vista Social Club,” about a Cuban band.
And the 3-D helps. The process is used modestly. Not every leap is toward the audience. Movements are not made to shock, but to emphasize. The dancers may raise their voices a little, but they don’t go into a move yelling, “Hey, look at me!”
There are 12-15 dancers, working in a huge studio, or on a street, or in a field alongside that river. There are props, of course, but they belong. They are part of Bausch’s vision, and they are of all ages, all shapes, all sizes, many colors. A number of them are interviewed, and they seem to revere Bausch, whose reputation for humiliating and abusing them during rehearsals is legendary. But she loved them, and the feelings were mutual
There is no dance “program,” as such, and no dialogue, but they dance parts of many pieces that were key sections of the programs they danced all over the world. They’re lithe and limber and they do things the human body should not be able to do, and it’s breath-taking and gloriously entertaining and everybody should see this great film while it’s here.
Pina opens today at the Chase-Park Plaza Cinema
— Joe