viewGrauzone (1979)
Julia (Olga Piazza) waking from a unusually deep sleep. DP: Hans Liechti.
Grauzone [Zones] (Fredi M. Murer, 1979)
Grauzone takes place in one of the three spaces documented in Murer's beautifully titled documentary Wir Bergler in den Bergen sind eigentlich nicht schuld, daß wir da sind [We, the mountain people, who live in the mountains are not really to blame for being there] (1974). One valley lives in tune with its natural rhythm, the second experiences a transition to modernity.
The third space, the “grey zone” – both this film's title and a descriptive term for an undefined neutral zone – is where the Bergler have become technology dwellers, where they live on summits made of concrete instead of rock. Where rumours about a #pandemic stir an ancient, unnamed fear. And symptoms: the sudden urge to wander out in nature, an acute melancholy, an overall hyper awareness. A young, prosperous couple become infected and pick up secret radio transmissions. What they believed was concrete, solid, immovable, suddenly shows signs of a shift.
#Bales2023FilmChallenge #FrediMMurer #GiovanniFrüh #OlgaPiazza #MarioBeretta #BeoOertli #HansLiechti #SciFi #Ballardian #drama #mystery #outbreak #Switzerland #WestGermany #1970s ★★★★½
