Friday, 26 August 2011

Peter Greenaway's New Film Offers Criticism of Today's Visual Illiteracy


Posted: 20 Aug 2011 07:38 PM PDT
artwork: Peter Greenaway's new film J'Accuse leads us through Rembrandt's paintings into 17th-century Amsterdam. Photo: Victor Arnolds.
AMSTERDAM.- 'J'Accuse' is an essayistic documentary in which Greenaway's fierce criticism of today's visual illiteracy is argued by means of a forensic search of Rembrandt's "Nightwatch". Greenaway explains the background, the context, the conspiracy, the murder and the motives of all its 34 painted characters who have conspired to kill for their combined self-advantage. Greenaway leads us through Rembrandt's paintings into 17th-century Amsterdam. He paints a world that is democratic in principle, but is almost entirely ruled by twelve families. The notion exists of these regents as charitable and compassionate beings. But reality was different. 

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