'Highbrow' might be the best way to sum it all up. Interesting and stimulating, if not always successful.
The Ister
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Australia · 2004
3h 9m
Director David Barison
Starring Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, Jean-Luc Nancy, Bernard Stiegler, Hans-Jürgen Syberberg
Genre Documentary
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The Ister travels 3000km to the heart of Europe, from the mouth of the Danube river on the Black Sea, to its source in the German Black Forest. The film is based on the work of Martin Heidegger, a philosopher who swore allegiance to the National Socialists in 1933, and invites reflection on the concept of ‘the West.’
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
The headiest, head-scratching-est, damnedest, most demanding movie opening this week in New York, The Ister could be simply described as a philosophical travelogue.
San Francisco Chronicle by John McMurtrie
A film about profound ideas deserved more imagination.
Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum
Unprecedented in its intellectual ambition, this is endlessly stimulating; it probably tries for too much, but it shames many other contemporary essays that try for too little.
Tyro helmers David Barison and Daniel Ross have sunk their teeth into a heady intellectual stew, and results are invigorating thanks to the filmmakers' inspired linkage of images and ideas and commentaries from three of the world's leading philosophers.
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