Kafka’s machine brings heavy snowdrifts inspired by weaknesses, fears, dilemmas, and the life of the eternal Franz Kafka. “You will leave a deep mark in the snow, but nothing more” are the words that echo through the cinematic theatre and lead us through a Kafkaesque dystopia. Let’s discuss Kafkaesque and mention some movies inspired by the author of “A Dream”, “A Report to an Academy”, “The Metamorphosis”, “A Country Doctor”, “The Castle”, “Observation”, “The Trial”…
Faces are functions, and people are there to symbolically accompany speech acts. Snow and a black coat are the two most dominant symbols. That coat goes from one person to another, from father to son. Each viewer interprets the symbols according to the extent to which they are familiar with the life and literary work of Franz Kafka. We become aware that we are in nothingness, that we have to pray for forgiveness, that we are like slaves subject to laws, and that we were born in the world of black coats. We have been exhaling fateful symphonies for a long time. We’re counting down. Is it so scary to live? Fatigue overwhelmed the soul, all battles were long lost. The wounds are forever open. Processes are there to last forever. Kafka is a Jew, and lawyer, brought up in German culture, he wrote in the German language, in Prague, the Slavic centre of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, especially in the second and third decades of the 20th century, before and during the First World War, sensing something even worse, the Second. The horrors of Kafka’s time correspond with modern times in terms of the age-related vulnerability of man.
Several of Kafka’s key literary works intersect with the facts of the author’s private and business life, as well as his work. Franz Kafka, Josef K., K., as well as assistants, interrogators, investigating judges and women, like Frida, who weaken a man, take away his strength, whom Kafka is afraid of, push us with this play into the Process, prevent us, as well as Kafka’s hero, to enter the Castle (as a novel and as a castle), they tame us, abuse us, judge us, treat us like dogs, kill us.
“Stay away from him” – Mr K., basically from everyone else as well. All roads lead from the castle. Behind each of Kafka’s banal language forms, statements, addresses, and greetings, both in “Castle” and “Process” are hidden abysses of meaning. “Stick to the rules.” Don’t take this too much to heart.” But be today’s pet. A slave or animal that consistently follows orders. Geometer’s (K.’s) arrival, unexpected, self-willed, and provocative, does not surprise the administration at all, even though he will never enter the castle. The vision of the castle is only possible at death.
He, him is no longer K., but Jozef K.
“Good morning. You are under arrest. The procedure has been initiated”. We all know what we are talking about here. This is no joke even though it is his 30th birthday. It’s not a mistake. The gentleman was arrested. There is no end to the process of absolute alienation, there is no liberation, only its semblance or prolongation, procrastination. Think about yourself, but not about your fate, it is guaranteed to be fatal.
Of course, none of this should be taken personally. Kafka’s reality is at work. The play has almost no emotion at all. It’s cold. It snows constantly. Grey skies and humidity, the atmosphere are in the souls of the performers. However, on one side is K., and on the other is everyone else, because they represent the world with which Kafka’s heroes struggle. In that battle, the world is overwhelming, and the individual is forced to accept any position that is imposed on him.
Not. Never. No one will ever know the law enough to say they are innocent! In particular, the perfection of the official organization should not be questioned?! – we are told from the stage. We live in a world of petty officials, the powerful are not only terrible and invisible but also unimaginable. Their government is not looking for a culprit. Man himself attracts the process and guilt. Is it your fault or mine? The coat must be black during the court proceedings that have been translated into a lifetime. The collective character (all the actors except the main one) forms the machinery and the synchronized movements, actions and simultaneous actions of the actors suggest to the audience in the auditorium disgust, discomfort and disgust. The attack of the world on man is terrible. The life of an individual happens in a group next to him. Alone in the crowd, lonely in the soul. Take him, take him, “Time is short, strength is low, in the office horror, in the apartment noise, everyone wants to live as long as they live.” Can we even sense the shortness of time? Hope is the most dangerous thing a person can have. So don’t ask for happiness, when you know there is none. At least there is no sadness. Hearts of stone, this is how we live, we were born tombstones a long time ago. The impossible is possible, and the impossible has long since become possible. Still “we live too well”?! What irony!?
The machine of Kafka’s world crushes man more and more. The heaviness, suffocation and unbearableness of the Kafkaesque air have taken over everything, we breathe in a rotten fate, the guilt of being human. “What kind of country is this?”
No one is obliged to listen to you! And – today there are no hearings like any other day, but the process is ubiquitous! We fill the voids of being with horrors. This is no misunderstanding. At least we are not afraid of the seeming opportunities we grab in this world of wrong possibilities and twisted reality. What a small and insignificant man he is. Seemingly funny facts. Moans screams, screams, bloody face, complete nakedness and washed hands. In the ecstasy of violence, long ago without words, speech, without a spine. Man is useless. Jozef K. became aware of his defeat.
Meaningless life processes continue, without any results. Corruption is done for the sake of justice. “And what would you like to change here?” How do you imagine the end?
Are you running away? Do you want to hide? Man is an animal. A dog that sledges. He eats whatever is thrown at him and responds to bells. We have long been discredited. We face imminent punishment. And where is the blame? And can it be called justice?
Thoughts are always at odds with reality. Are we free? Really or partially? Or are we just prolonging our existence? One thing is for sure, none of us have a certificate of innocence. The glare of the spotlight and the smoke from the technical device offer no allusion to paradise. Can we understand, if we understand, can we endure?
If you want to see the full movie list inspired by Franz Kafka and his works click here.
