Adam Seitz

Wim Wenders: Land of Plenty - Wenders Hassliebe Zu den USA Am Beispiel Eines Films Aus Dem Jahr 2004 Adam Seitz

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject History Europe - Other Countries - Newer History, European Unification, grade: 2,0, University of California, Berkeley (Department of History), course: U. S. Cultural and Intellectual History: Global Contexts, language: English, comment: Hausarbeit, erstellt im Rahmen eines Seminars an der University of California at Berkeley bei Prof. Richard Cándida-Smith. , abstract: "Indeed, I feel betrayed in my love to this country and its ideas. More precisely, I think that the Americans themselves get betrayed beyond belief. [...] This is what "Land of Plenty" is about."- Wim Wenders, 2004 Professionally, Wenders left Europe for the United States only once. And it was a disaster. The shooting, or better the two shootings of "Hammett" between 1977 and 1982 as an "employed" director under Francis Ford Coppola's control ended in a personal nightmare. It was a kind of filmmaking he never would accept. Accustomed to writing his own story which would usually change during the process of filming, and used to choosing his actors and his crew, Coppola's Hollywood?style approach in the production of "Hammett" was a blow to Wenders' professional ambitions in the United States. Asked if he wanted to work there again, he said that "it would be too much of a loss of autonomy. The way they despise and destroy their abundance of talent is appalling. The films are not made by artists, but by agents and lawyers." A couple of years later, his tone appeared to be more moderate: "It was a comprehensive experience [and] one of the most important at the same time." Nevertheless, ever since "Hammett",all of Wenders' movies have been produced and financed through Europe.