01/12/2007

At first sight The End of Violence and Don’t Come Knocking [+lee también:
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There is a perceptible intention in The End of Violence to accuse technology of not only alienating man but turning man against man. This is done mainly by putting technology in a picturesque natural environment. In one scene the main character Mike, a high-tech producer, is sitting in a garden. Surrounded by all kinds of plants, with the sea in view in the background, he is having a chat session on his webcam and simultaneously talking to his wife on the phone (who is actually only five metres away from him). Another crucial detail to mention is the location of the observation post (a kind of Orwellian surveillance centre) where the character Ray Bering works - namely the striking contrast between the technological base and the hill, a beauty spot for hikers.

We experience the same kind of counter position in a more subtle and different way in Don’t Come Knocking. The two opposing elements, nature and technology, are represented here through the characters themselves. Spence, an aging western film star, escapes on horseback from his film shoot; demonstrating a rebellion against our technologically-overdosed century. The other pole is expressed through the private detective who is looking for Spence, seen best in a short but powerful scene of him shaving himself in the middle of a meadow.

There is a perfect contrast between the detective mentioned above and Ray Bering, from The End of Violence. The first is unable to distract himself from technology even when in the middle of the wilderness, the latter is capable of remaining human in his isolated working place - a technological construction - by maintaining a strong contact with nature.

The contrast is sharp in each case. But what is Wender’s position between these opposing forces? One feels it clearly in the closing images of both films, which show his well-known landscapes of raw nature.