An exhibition in the Frankfurt Film Museum deals with disaster films – with reference to reality.
A mountain range in the Himalayas. A wall of water slowly pushes through between the peaks, waves next to which the high mountains look small. A monk in a monastery sees the water coming towards him and manages to ring a bell twice before his monastery – now seen from afar – is swallowed.
This excerpt from the film “2012” can be seen in the exhibition “Catastrophe – What Comes After the End?” At the Filmmuseum in Frankfurt. Floods, earthquakes, atomic bombs or even pandemics form the framework for the films with which the exhibition is concerned. Typical plot: A heroic main character saves (at least some) people and those who survive have more appreciation for life later.
Viewed from the outside, these films, which have been around since the beginning of the 20th century, are about what people are most afraid of, as curator Stefanie Plappert explains. Therefore, the exhibition is initially dedicated to the cultural history of the catastrophe – and actually also to natural history. Because we not only see biblical illustrations of the Revelation of John, but also a basalt column. This so-called Trapp basalt from India was created by the eruption of a super volcano, which some researchers believe to be complicit in the extinction of the dinosaurs. It continues, following the dramaturgy of a disaster film, with the chapters “Warning signals”, “Disaster”, “Rescue attempts” and finally either “Apocalypse” or “New beginning”. Appropriate film clips are shown in each section, titles from news magazines such as “Spiegel” on the Sars pandemic in 2003, Chernobyl or climate change show real catastrophes. The visitor is accompanied by the dark music of the film excerpts.
The Filmmuseum collaborated with the Senckenberg Museum on “disasters”. In addition to the actual film excerpts, the exhibition also shows women scientists who explain how realistic disaster films are. For example, a geologist explains how a celestial body that would hit the earth would in reality be thrown off course.
The fact that “disasters” are opened during a pandemic is a coincidence, as Ellen Harrington, Director of the DFF, said at the opening. “A coincidence that plays into our hands.” Because questions like “What is happening to us? What’s next? Is it going any further? “Are now particularly topical. Nevertheless, the corona pandemic itself is not central to the exhibition. Some of the few Corona references can be found in the “Rescue attempts” chapter. A children’s drawing can be seen and a flyer from the city of Frankfurt, which refers to hygiene rules. However, this may also be due to the fact that Corona is not over yet, as Ina Hartwig, head of the Frankfurt cultural department, emphasizes: “The pandemic has not yet been dealt with by the arts.”
Brigitte Franzen, director of the Senckenberg Nature Museum, draws attention to the other, very real catastrophe, namely the climate crisis and the destruction of ecosystems: “Actually, we no longer need films to see disasters, plastic clouds in the ocean or the burning Amazon are real. “
And although it might be difficult to make a realistic film about the climate crisis, films can shake people up, as Stefanie Plappert explains: “Films can still generate awareness.” The 2004 film “The Day After Tomorrow” is a good example of this . “It sparked a broad debate.”
In reality, it is likely to be more difficult to become a hero or a heroine than in a film – and to stop the catastrophe. At least, shortly before the exit, quotes to take with us encourage us, for example that from Greta Thunberg: “The first thing I learned is that you are never too small to change anything.”
So what comes after the end? The music of the catastrophe has stopped, but from the window of the film museum you can see the river Main, which was colored brown by the flooding.
Deutsches Filmmuseum , Frankfurt: until January 9, 2022. katastrophe.dff.film
