Reflection on the film Mephisto (1981)

Mephisto (1981)

Main question: How to keep identity and integrity in time of horror/terror?

One of the main questions that the film Mephisto by Istvan Szabo is the question of whether one can keep one's identity and integrity within a time of horror and terror. Szabo seems to be implying that it's almost impossible to do this, and seems to toy with that notion throughout the film. The film already takes place within a loaded and terrifying time in world history. This is the era of World War Two, when fascism and the Nazis were coming to power. Looking back on this era, it can seem absolutely shocking that the Nazis were able to come to such a supreme level of authority, power and evil, but fundamentally this occurred, because they were allowed to. The Nazis came to power because the rest of the world allowed that to happen. Thus, essentially, Szabo appears to be asserting that when surrounded by horror and a sunset of humanity, it's virtually impossible to protect one's integrity and internal core.

This is suggested by Szabo at the opening of the film. The film opens at an opera, which is a highly symbolic environment that takes on the entire notions of the rest of the reality of the film. Within an opera, singers must both act and sing, embracing the artificial reality of the story, emoting with the pain of their characters, yet with a sense of separation since they are not really their characters. When we first meet Henrik, one of the first things he does is look at himself in a mirror. This is of course, no accident: this is a highly symbolic gesture which is a living metaphor for the rest of the film, and meditates on the notion of how identity is but a flimsy thing -- it is just a mere reflection, a compilation of lights and cells which can be influenced by a range of different agents. The notion of falsity is something which underscores much of the film; when Henrik tells Juliette he loves her, she says, you only love yourself. In that sense, Henrik asserts that an actor is just a mask. This appears to be one of the major themes of Szabo's film in general: it's the notion that people are just the sum of their appearances and that appearances are flimsy, and easily influenced. This is so problematic, because it can make one more vulnerable to things like fascism and the power of hatred.

Another theme of the film that appears to be presented and toyed with is the idea of shame. No doubt the Nazis felt shame often, or from time to time, and that their deep-ceded hatred for other people was founded on this sense of shame. Their inability to accept other people manifested from an inability to accept themselves. Another remark that Henrik makes also appears to act as a living metaphor for many of the overall messages of the film: Henrik says he wants to make the entire opera audience feel as though they are living the story line of the opera through the set. This is such a revelatory notion because it provokes the idea of the artificial, and of the capacity of a human being to embrace the artificial and identify with the artificial -- this could be seen as a metaphor for fascism in general.

Another theme that the film appears to experiment with, is the idea of evil being allowed to flourish when good people do nothing. For instance, the aversion of the characters towards the Nazis is well established: the characters assert that they feel the Nazis are thugs and brutes. There's a clear us vs. them mentality which is established.

Even so, the film documents how the Nazis are able to come to power: through the lack of action of good people willing to stop them. For example, Juliette asks what the Jews are planning against Germany. This is such a provocative question because in hindsight we see that the Jews planned virtually nothing against Germany. This reveals so much about the situation: evil was allowed to flourish, and thus it did flourish. Other elements of the film which strengthened this notion revolved around the idea of characters remarking about how they thought there was nothing to fear about the Nazis, and yet, we see the character of Barbara telling Henrik that the Nazis won the election. This is so ominous, as the average viewer understand that it signifies the Nazis coming to power. The view sees how a career in the arts is no longer possible: everything becomes reduced to the notion of fighting.