GORILLA BATHES AT NOON

The absurdist political satire which made Belgrade-born director Dusan Makavejev (“WR: Mysteries of the Organism”, “Montenegro”) one of the most widely acclaimed Easter Eurpoean filmmakers in the 1970s is revived once again in his latest effort. GORILLA BATHES AT NOON is a picaresque account of the adventures of Major Victor Borisovich, a Soviet officer whose army has left Berlin without him. Even prison is more comfortable than life back in Russia, so he decides to stay behind. He wanders through the city in full regimental uniform like a homeless drifter, searching for the necessities: food, love, and work. Makavejev intersperses Borisivich's adventures with documentary footage and clips from the grandiose yet strangely moving 1949 Russian propaganda feature, “The Fall of Berlin” (in which Stalin arrives in the defeated city to the cheers of the Allied troops), to offer ironic commentary on recent political upheavals in Germany and Eastern Europe. As always, Makavejev easily crosses the line between reality and fiction. In English, Russian, and German with English subtitles.