Review of The Ister

Even among the Continental Philosophers, he's seldom ranked "most influential," and among the Analytic Philosophers, he's not even mentioned. Why? Call it an example of the ad hominem fallacy, or call it justifiable neglect: it's his embrace of Nazism, and for what?--tenure, really--that makes suspect his bona fides. What right-thinking thinker would go that route? Certainly no one in the tradition of Socrates. But as for the film: it's not bad but it's not very good, either, except for some lovely imagery. It's certainly unique; it has that going for it. It's worth a watch if you're a film lover who prizes the unique in film in and of itself, and you owe it to yourself if you're a lover of the type of phenomenology that Heidegger represents. Yet you can love Holderlin and never see this film and be none the poorer. "The Ister" is a kind of cri de coeur for the intellectual identify of Europe post- WWII. It will appeal less to American intellectuals than to Europeans. It will not reclaim Heidegger's intellectual integrity or moral authority, for he has none of the latter and of the former, as I said, he's suspect. One could do worse than to see this film, but one could save some precious time and just avoid it. There's nothing new here, except the format.