I watched Schwarze Sunde (Black Sin) by Jean-Marie Straub at MOMA. This film was made in 1988 on 35mm film and in German. It is based on a book called “The Death of Empedocles”, by Friedrich Hölderlin.

In this film, the plot is pretty much an older man, Empedocles, debating a younger boy, Pausanias, his disciple, “about the divine powers of love and strife that govern all matter, whether the strange and mystical elements of air, fire, water, and earth, or the mercurial and tragic behavior of gods and humans, mad in their compulsion to forsake nature and each other.” (MoMa) The film starts with a still shot of a statue, then the older man lays without moving on the mountain, all with dialogue in the back. The boy joins in after couple of minutes and they speak. There are only a couple seconds of shots where both are in the same frame. The pan shots of the mountain and the Sicilian landscape captured a great sense of location.

Another character is introduced. I wasn’t sure of his purpose or who he is. He dressed in tribal prints and spoke across from Empedocles and the camera switches back and forth on the two while they exchange dialogue.

The film ends with a woman now sitting on the mountain while an up and down orchestra soundtrack plays in the background. She speaks.

I didn’t understand the film due to the German dialogue, but the visuals were very interesting. However, the characters only exchanged dialogues in this film and there were little to no actions. The wardrobe made me believe it is back in time in ancient European history.