🎬 Kafka in West Germany: Brutality in Stone (1961) + Jonas (1957)
Kafka in West Germany brings together two haunting visions of alienation and power, exploring how architecture, bureaucracy, and ideology trap the individual. Through Kluge’s Brutality in Stone and Ottomar Domnick’s Jonas, this program delves into the Kafkaesque landscapes of post-war Germany, where oppressive systems continue to shape both space and mind.
Brutality in Stone (Brutalität in Stein)
Alexander Kluge | 1961 | Germany | 12’ | EN subtitles
In Brutality in Stone Alexander Kluge looks at architecture as a form of power. Shot among the vast remains of Nazi rally grounds, the film shows how stone, scale, and symmetry were meant to impress, dominate, and make the individual feel small. Made as Kluge’s debut film and in close collaboration with Peter Schamoni, it breaks with traditional documentary form. The buildings are treated almost like living characters, heavy with intention and threat. There is something deeply Kafkaesque in these spaces, where people seem lost inside systems they cannot influence or escape. ‘Brutality in Stone’ is less a historical document than a quiet confrontation with how ideology hardens into space and how its shadows continue to stretch into the present.
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Jonas
Ottomar Domnick | 1957 | Germany | 84’ | EN subtitles
In postwar Stuttgart, Jonas, a quiet print worker, tries to fit into a society eager to move on. After buying a hat to conform, he impulsively steals another when his is taken. This small act triggers a growing sense of guilt, paranoia, and memories of the war. As Jonas wanders the city’s modern streets and towering buildings, he feels increasingly isolated and watched. His attempts at connecting with others, including a budding romance, only push him further into withdrawal.
Ottomar Domnick’s Jonas examines the tension between personal guilt and the collective pressure to move forward in postwar Germany. Set against the backdrop of rapid reconstruction, the film offers a striking portrayal of alienation, as a man struggles to navigate a world that is rebuilding itself while leaving its past unresolved.
