Throughout the tenure of Western Metaphysics, conceptions of History have, for the most part, followed logical and foundationally epistemological models. The causally linear chain of historical events has, at its inception, a causa sui which, in turn, results in a progression of events much like the links in a chain-a conception that postmodernists have, at the very least challenged. Volker Schlöndorff also challenges, or at a minimum complicates, the metaphysical heritage of history in his film The Ogre. Schlöndorff foregrounds the importance of history by setting his narrative during the Twentieth-Century's most seminal moment, World War Two.
His criticism, however, filters through his mise-en-scene. Throughout The Ogre, monuments of historically influential figures or symbols make their presence-i.e. Jesus, cathedrals, the swastika, aristocrats, etc. And the film is replete with very dominant straight lines. But Schlöndorff subverts the dominance of these straight lines on several occasions. When Abel and the other French prisoners are transported via train to their prison camp, Abel looks to the exterior at a series of telephone/telegraph lines running concurrently. In an eye-line match, the camera provides us with a point of view shot, aligning our view with Abel's. Eventually, however, these lines end by moving offscreen to the top. In another instance, Abel assists his fellow prisoners in the digging of trenches. Abel's task is to lay rope or wire along the distinctive lines of the trenches. In one shot, Abel moves increasingly deeper into the frame lengthening the line not only of the trench but of the rope or wire as well. But with a quick 180-degree edit to a medium shot, the lines disappear. Throughout The Ogre, institutions are associated with structures composed of bricks or other patchwork materials such as stained glass windows. The construction of these establishments are founded not upon linearly laying brick upon brick, but by piling a brick upon two other bricks in such a way that they interlock to make a whole. In other words, institutions are built by the confluence of numerous factors and not a direct relation from an immediately preceding event. In fact, intersecting lines appear throughout The Ogre and the numerous shots in which the characters are displayed through the filter of these enmeshing lines exemplify their effects upon the lives of the characters. The strongest representatives of Western Metaphysics in the film are the Nazis and the Hitler Youth program for which Abel is a servant. In one scene the boys line up assembled in a courtyard listening to a speech by their headmaster. This scene takes place at night and in a swooping crane shot the boys are indistinguishable from the night. The boys look ahead and their supervisors are lit from behind by the flames of torches hence making them appear only as shadows. This spectacle seems particularly reminiscent of Plato's `Allegory of the Cave.' The boys' headmaster informs them that they no longer have parents and that they now belong to the Fatherland. This proclamation also calls to attention Plato's ideas respective to the Academy and the necessity to remove children from their parents for the purposes of indoctrinating the youth with concepts to which their parents would be adverse. Schlöndorff also directly criticizes the Hitler Youth program through the very materials on which they trod. In one shot, the boys are gathered on a driveway paved with cold gray bricks. The pavement is deteriorated and formed by disparate bricks in opposition to the strongly embroidered buildings around them.
His criticism, however, filters through his mise-en-scene. Throughout The Ogre, monuments of historically influential figures or symbols make their presence-i.e. Jesus, cathedrals, the swastika, aristocrats, etc. And the film is replete with very dominant straight lines. But Schlöndorff subverts the dominance of these straight lines on several occasions. When Abel and the other French prisoners are transported via train to their prison camp, Abel looks to the exterior at a series of telephone/telegraph lines running concurrently. In an eye-line match, the camera provides us with a point of view shot, aligning our view with Abel's. Eventually, however, these lines end by moving offscreen to the top. In another instance, Abel assists his fellow prisoners in the digging of trenches. Abel's task is to lay rope or wire along the distinctive lines of the trenches. In one shot, Abel moves increasingly deeper into the frame lengthening the line not only of the trench but of the rope or wire as well. But with a quick 180-degree edit to a medium shot, the lines disappear. Throughout The Ogre, institutions are associated with structures composed of bricks or other patchwork materials such as stained glass windows. The construction of these establishments are founded not upon linearly laying brick upon brick, but by piling a brick upon two other bricks in such a way that they interlock to make a whole. In other words, institutions are built by the confluence of numerous factors and not a direct relation from an immediately preceding event. In fact, intersecting lines appear throughout The Ogre and the numerous shots in which the characters are displayed through the filter of these enmeshing lines exemplify their effects upon the lives of the characters. The strongest representatives of Western Metaphysics in the film are the Nazis and the Hitler Youth program for which Abel is a servant. In one scene the boys line up assembled in a courtyard listening to a speech by their headmaster. This scene takes place at night and in a swooping crane shot the boys are indistinguishable from the night. The boys look ahead and their supervisors are lit from behind by the flames of torches hence making them appear only as shadows. This spectacle seems particularly reminiscent of Plato's `Allegory of the Cave.' The boys' headmaster informs them that they no longer have parents and that they now belong to the Fatherland. This proclamation also calls to attention Plato's ideas respective to the Academy and the necessity to remove children from their parents for the purposes of indoctrinating the youth with concepts to which their parents would be adverse. Schlöndorff also directly criticizes the Hitler Youth program through the very materials on which they trod. In one shot, the boys are gathered on a driveway paved with cold gray bricks. The pavement is deteriorated and formed by disparate bricks in opposition to the strongly embroidered buildings around them.