EN
“For Moses und Aron Huillet and Straub staged the unfinished eponymous opera by Arnold Schönberg in an amphitheater in the Abruzzi, highlighting the elemental forces, which refers both to the natural locale, which is one crucial aspect that sets it apart from the duo's other great Schönberg films, as well as the subject. The struggle between word (represented by Moses, man with the Tablets of the Law) and image (Aron, follower of the Golden Calf thus reveals itself in the most materialist of all opera movies. Yet Moses und Aron is equally exceptional as a film about film, pondering the meaning of quick edits as well as long shots. In a well-known article, Manny Farber and Patricia Patterson have described the "very sensual experience "as "delicious and joyful [...] a physical reality that reverberates in the mind." But beyond the aesthetic and sensuous pleasures to be derived from Huillet-Straub's rigorous approach there are, as always, spiritual, and ideological aspects that should not be overlooked. In the case of Moses und Aron, the film's dedication "to Holger Meins" was promptly eliminated when the Film premiered in Germany (on television). The comment by the management of public-service broadcaster ARD: "Could be misunderstood as a political demonstration."”
Christoph Huber
