Twenty-five years after his cult TV series, Kir Royal, director Helmut Dietl has now come released a sort of ?sequel? for the big screen. Zettl focuses on the high-flying career of a ruthless media man in Berlin. As satire, however, the frigid figures in Zettl fail to warm up to viewers. ...
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Gazeta Wyborcza
| The New York Review of Books | Elet es Irodalom | Le Nouvel Observateur | Al Ahram Weekly | L'Espresso | Die Weltwoche | Polityka | DU
Gazeta Wyborcza, 04.03.2006 (Poland)
Five years ago, Poland began the "Jedwabne Debate," which threw the country's understanding of itself into question (more here). At issue is the murder of roughly 1,600 Jews that took place in the town of Jedwabne in 1941 – instigated by German soldiers of the occupying forces and carried out by Polish peasants. For a long time, Poland denied its involvement, not wanting to jeopardize its mythical historic status as a victimized nation. Journalist Anna Bikont, who covered the story for Gazeta, recounts what happened after the truth had been uncovered. "Only the perpetrators feel secure and talk proudly of their patriotism. Those who fought for the truth have to leave. In Jedwabne itself, there are no traces of the crime. Here there is no happy end."
The New York Review of Books, 23.03.2006 (U.S.A.)
The British author and avowed gambler Al Alvarez pays tribute to the best and canniest Poker player of all time, Stu Ungar, also known as "The Kid," whose biography "One of a Kind" has been written by Nolan Dalla and Peter Alson. "Stuey, reared by thugs, had no charm. 'He was an obnoxious winner and a poor sport,' his biographers write, 'a taunter and a braggart,' who had no 'understanding of the art of the hustle. Once he started playing, his competitive instincts took over and overwhelmed common sense. His mission wasn't to win money - it was to destroy people and be the best ever. As a result, he... scared away potential opponents." Here a picture of Ungar, on the right, in front of his third million dollar win in Las Vegas.
Elet es Irodalom, 03.03.2006 (Hungary)
A few weeks ago, the young historian Krisztian Ungvary revealed that Cardinal Laszlo Paskai, former head of the Hungarian Catholic church, used to spy for the Hungarian secret service. This unleashed a heated debate about the relationship between the Catholic church and the secret police, to which Ungarvy now responds: "In the course of the debate, it has been demanded, rightly, that not only the former spies be exposed but also the secret police officers. Preventing this are the bishops, who, for fear of being tarnished, are protecting their oppressors by still refusing to speak.(...) The Kadar regime is not yet over, contrary to appearances. Many still bear the burden of the dictatorship internally, still obeying the rules which once governed them. They could free themselves from the bondage of dictatorship if they would tell their stories openly. They don't need to be afraid. A series of spectacular cases shows that society wants to forgive them."
Le Nouvel Observateur, 02.03.2006 (France)
In a rather nasty birthday article marking "30 years of the Nouveaux Philosophes," Aude Lancelin analyzes the early success of Andre Glucksmann and Bernhard-Henri Levy with their anti-totalitarian books as the "definitively anti-progressive turn of an entire faction of the French intelligentsia." Lancelin recalls the furious attacks of Gilles Deleuze against the anti-totalitarian young thinkers and cites Glucksmann's response: "Yes, my dear Gilles, the Gulag is no comma in a text by Kant! The Gulag is a swearword, a bitter pill which we threw in the soup of the blinded French intelligentsia." (Read our feature "Separating truth and belief" by Glucksmann here.)
Al Ahram Weekly, 02.03.2006 (Egypt)
Nehad Selaiha is full of praise for the Arabic premiere of Jean Genet's brothel play "The Balcony" in the Al-Hanager Theatre in Cairo. "Though it has been around for half a century and lost its potential to shock or outrage in the West, staging 'The Balcony' in the Arab/Islamic world still remains a daunting challenge.... The costume designer, Sarah Enany, had a hellish time convincing some of the actresses that girls in a brothel, ministering to the weird, erotic fantasies of its patrons, could not possibly be dressed according to the traditional laws of 'chastity' in the East and, as she tells me, spent nerve-racking hours bargaining over an inch up and down in a dress..."
L'Espresso, 03.03.2006 (Italy)
Russia has little to offer other than gas and guns, writes Andrzej Stasiuk in his profile of the country. But that's more than enough. "Everyone needs both the Kalashnikov and the gas, it's that simple. Everyone needs cheap weapons to survive, everyone needs energy. Aggression and access to energy are Siamese twins. The aggression serves to guarantee the energy and with more energy, you can behave more aggressively and so it goes, to the bitter end. That's the essence of the Russian genius."
See our feature "Not a living soul around" by Andrzej Stasiuk.
Die Weltwoche, 02.03.2006 (Switzerland)
In an interview with Sacha Verna, 84-year-old American writer Kurt Vonnegut calls God a totem pole and every president an addlepate. "The tragic mistake of every democracy comes from the fact that only a harebrain
would want to become president. My high school class was democratically
organised. We elected a class president, a class vice-president, a
secretary and so on. Everyone who went out for president was barmy in
one way or another. All they wanted was to be elected. All George W.
Bush wanted was to be elected. Aside from that he didn't have any plans
at all. His friends, on the other hand, had all kinds of plans, and they're the ones now running the country."
Polityka, 04.03.2006 (Poland)
Political cinema of the type so popular at the Berlinale and other international festivals hardly has a chance in Poland, says the filmmaker Andrzej Wajda
in an interview. "It's no wonder films with political or social themes
hardly attract viewers in a country where only half the population goes
to the polls. I hope my younger colleagues will make films about
today's Poland, films that not only interest people at home and abroad,
but also bear witness to our struggle for Poland's place in the new
Europe." Wajda, who is now working on a film about the Katyn Massacre, is also amazed that what audiences really want is fables. "Is today's reality so abhorrent?"
DU, 01.03.2006 (Switzerland)
The Swiss magazine DU sets a counterpoint to the Mozart year with an issue on the "geometric composer" Johann Sebastian Bach. Travelling
through Albania with an orchestra, violist Volker Hagedorn has a lot of
time to think about Bach. "Eight-four time, up and down in a multitude
of tiny steps like a diligent little wanderer, while far away we hear magnificence in five voices.
There is something very mundane and touching about this dogged labour
of the basses before the weightless vocal horizon. It develops softly,
very much like the immobile horizon that gradually changes when seen
from a moving bus. This music is like a panorama, with infinite room
for views of the world. And while the violins play golden high tones, the violas listen for 45 bars, silent witnesses to this balance of worlds."
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Poland's youth have taken to the streets to protest against Acta and Donald Tusk has listened, Polityka explains. Himal and the Economist report on the repression of homosexuality in the Muslim world. Outlook India doesn't understand why there will be no "Dragon Tattoo" film in India. And in Eurozine, Slavenka Drakulic looks at how close the Serbs are to eating grass.
In the French Huffington Post, philosopher Catherine Clement explains why the griot Youssou N'Dour had next to no chance of becoming Senegal's president. Peter Sloterdijk (in Le Monde) and Umberto Eco (in Espresso) share their thoughts about forgetting. Al Ahram examines the post-electoral depression of Egypt's young revolutionaries. And in Eurozine, Kenan Malik defends freedom of opinion against those who want the world to go to sleep.
Il Sole Ore weeps at the death of a laughing Vincenzo Consolo. In Babelia, Javier Goma Lanzon cries: Praise me, please! Osteuropa asks: Hungaria, quo vadis? The newborn French Huffington Post heralds the birth of the individual in the wake of the Arab Spring. Outlook India is infuriated by the cowardliness of Indian politicians in the face of religious fanatics.
In Nepszabadsag the dramatist György Spiro recognises 19th century France in Hungary today. Peter Nadas, though, in Lettre International and salon.eu.sk, is holding out hope for his country's modernisation. In Open Democracy, Boris Akunin and Alexei Navalny wish Russia was as influential as America - or China. And in Lettras Libras, Peter Hamill compares Mexico with a mafia film by the Maquis de Sade.
Are books about to become a sort of author-translator wiki, asks Il Sole 24 Ore. Rue 89 reports on the "Tango Wars" in downtown Buenos Aires. Elet es Irodalom posits a future for political poetry. In Merkur, Mikhail Shishkin encounters Russian pain in Switzerland. Die Welt discovers the terror of the new inside the collapse of the old in Andrea Breth's staging of Isaak Babel's "Maria". And Poetry Foundation waits for refugees in Lampedusa. 
Technology Review sees Apple as the next Big Brother. In Eurozine, Per Wirten still fears the demons of the European project. Al Ahram Weekly features Youssef Rakha's sarcastic "The honourable citizen manifesto". Revista Piaui profiles Iraqi-Norwegian geologist Farouk Al-Kasim. Slate.fr comments on the free e-book versions of Celine's work. And Die Welt celebrates the return of Palais Schaumburg.
Andre Glucksman in Tagesspiegel looks at the impact of the Putinist plague on Russia and Europe. In Letras Libras Martin Caparros celebrates the Kindle as book. György Dalos has little hope that Hungary's intellectuals can help get their country out of the doldrums. Le Monde finds Cioran with his head up the skirt of a young German woman. The NYT celebrates the spread of N'Ko, the West African text messaging alphabet.
MicroMega cheers recent landmark Mafia convictions in Milan. Volltext champions Hermann Broch. Elet es Irodalom calls the Orban government’s attack on cultural heritage "Talibanisation". Magyar Narancs is ambiguous about new negotiations with the IMF. Telerama recommends the icon of anti-colonialism Frantz Fanon. Salon.eu.sk quips about the dubious election results in Russia, and voices in the German press mark the passing of Christa Wolf. And in the Anglophone press Wired profiles Jeff Bezos, while the Columbia Journalism Review polemicises the future of internet journalism.
Moroccans are no less hungry for freedom that Tunisians, activist Hisham Almiraat explains in openDemocracy. But their elites are too cowardly, fears Moroccan journalist Driss Ksikes in Le Monde. Die Welt watches Rutger Hauer explain why Jesus was hidden in Breugel's painting. El Pais Semanal meets a homeless man who wanted to become an executioner. Elet es Irodalom tries to see the positive in the far-right takeover of the New Theatre in Budapest. Gustav Seibt in the SZ scoffs at Habermas' belief in the European citizen. And in Magyar Narancs, Israeli writer Etgar Keret believes the mass demonstrations in Israel have changed the nation's discourse.
MicroMega warns that Berlosconism remains alive and kicking. Magyar Narancs exhorts Hungary to confront its historical responsibility for the events of 1944. Slate.fr sets the record straight about Germany's self-image as Europe's financial bulwark. Elet es Irodalom deplores plans to tear down the home of socialist football. Frankfurter Rundschau says, yes, Germany does have a racism problem beyond the Brown Army Faction. And Al Ahram Weekly voices its doubts about the Muslim Brotherhood. 
Telerama introduces the French pioneers of internet journalism. In Eurozine, Charles Taylor and a left-wing Polish Catholic discuss the de-politicisation of politics. Elet es Irodalom explains that 90 percent of the Hungarian population were misinformed about the recent mass demonstrations in their country. Hector Abad in El Espectador is happy to believe in angels. The Tagesspiegel says it's high time we started taking the Nazis seriously. And Die Zeit wonders where all the intellectuals were when Europe withered.
Eurozine suggests letting random Belgian citizens decide the future of their country. Magyar Narancs got a charge out of the mass demonstrations of October 23. But HVG sees demonstrators as motivated by their wallets more than democracy. In the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frank Schirrmacher and Jürgen Habermas don't understand the criticism of the Greek referendum, and Le Monde believes Papandreou is driven by a fear of extremist violence. Telerama takes a closer look at the utopian spirit of William Morris's designs, and Der Tagesspiegel profiles the new Berlin star: Aerea Negrot.
Without universalism, there can be no human rights, explains Caroline Fourest in Le Monde. There too, Jürgen Habermas calls for more democracy in Europe. For Merkur, Green is classless. Il Sole Ore can't see Italy, only Italians. In the NZZ, J.M. Coetzee can't understand what happened to the intellectual element of religion. And Polityka wonders why the Polish don't appreciate their illustrators.
In the NZZ, Najem Wali praises Boualem Sansal for immunising himself against the hypocrisy of Arab intellectuals. In Le Monde Pierre Nora explains that colonialism was in fact a discourse of the left. Nazis should be on the stage, says Peter Esterhazy in Elet es Irodalom, but not, please, with state funding. Who writes about the poor today, Sibylle Lewitscharoff asks in Literaturen. In La regle du jeu, Marc Lambron compares tartar with AC/DC, and Eurozine pitches democracy against purity.