Shot in a mere thirteen days in Munich during December, Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? (now on DVD from Fantoma Films) was Fassbinder's fourth film and quite different in stylistic terms from his later work though he would return to many of the same themes in such films as The Merchant of Four Seasons (1972) and Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven (1975). Certainly his interest in exposing social hypocrisy and petty bourgeois values is on display here, but his main intent is to show man's inability to cope with modern life rendered as a case study; all of it reflected in the monotonous daily grind experienced by Kurt, the Herr R. of the title. At first, Kurt seems to possess the hopes and ambitions of other middle-class working men and appears to have a comfortable home with a devoted wife and child. But as we follow his daily routine, a sense of despair sets in. Workplace disappointments (a much-desired promotion hasn't happened), minor slights (a strained visit with condescending neighbors) and the typical problems that affect most married couples (meddling in-laws, finances, problematic children) take a cumulative toll on Kurt. We can see it as his body language becomes more constricted and withdrawn, particularly in the scene where he and his wife meet with his son's teacher and are made to feel responsible for their child's learning disabilities. Yet, despite the bleak world view Fassbinder offers us in Why Does Herr R. Run Amok?, there are unexpected moments of lightness and humor; the scene where Kurt enters a record store and queries two giggling shopgirls about a song he heard on the radio - he attempts to hum it - has a genuine sweetness and good-natured mockery about it.
Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? was said to have strongly influenced Danish director Lars Von Trier who owes a debt to this film, which in many ways prefigures some of the tenets of his Dogme 95 film movement - hand-held cinematography, shooting in real locations with available light, natural sound with no added musical score or effects, and an avoidance of genre clichés. Unlike the stylized theatricality of Fassbinder's earlier Katzelmacher (1969) which was adapted from a play, Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? has a cinema-verite quality and most of the dialogue was improvised. All of the actors also address each other by their real first names. According to writer Ronald Hayman in his book Fassbinder: Filmmaker the director "probably knew he was more likely to get the performance he wanted from Kurt Raab if he cast Lilith Ungerer as his wife. She was an antitheater actress Raab had always disliked...These provocations may seem petty, but they must have reinforced the concentration of petty provocations in the plot." The cast also includes Fassbinder regulars Harry Baer and Lilo Pempeit (Fassbinder's mother) as fellow employees and, in a small bit, Hanna Schygulla as an acquaintance from school.
The theatrical release of Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? came at a time when Fassbinder was just starting to receive international recognition as one of the leaders in the New German Cinema along with Volker Schlondorff, Werner Herzog, Margarethe von Trotta, Hans-Jurgen Syberberg and Wim Wenders. His work, however, was a reaction against the commercial cinema of his time as he himself stated: "The established culture business needs outsiders like me." Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? could be interpreted as Fassbinder's attack on the complacency of his fellow man but film scholar Jim Clark in the liner notes that accompany the DVD makes this observation: "While this is perhaps Fassbinder's most hyper-real picture, it's also among his most richly ambiguous works, mysterious to the bone. The allegorical title suggests that he has symbolic intentions, but he never forces a narrow this-means-that interpretation." Fassbinder's comments on his film, in typical fashion, were much more obtuse: "In Katzelmacher we wanted to offer the possibility of a kind of alternative attitude through the style of the film, and in Amok we are also using color to this end: the audience should understand the contents of the film and see that this has something to do with them, while, at the same time, finding a distance to it through the form in which the action is presented, so that they can reflect upon what they see." In a later comment, Fassbinder stated that Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? was "the most disgusting film I ever made."
The Fantoma DVD of Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? showcases a new digital transfer of the film in its original 1.33:1 aspect ration. The only extra is an interview with cinematographer Dietrich Lohmann, who collaborated with Fassbinder on many of his early films and offers a revealing look at the director's working methods.
For more information about Why Does Herr R. Run Amok?, visit Fantoma Films. To order Why Does Herr R. Run Amok?, go to TCM Shopping.
by Jeff Stafford
