The Dark Side of Swiss Cinema

« This tirade, although remarkable at times, shows absolutely no concern for objectivity », one could read in a January 1981 edition of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. And yet there is no doubt that this is a genuine documentary film. Shot in video format with the camera on the shoulder by the Zurich collective Videoladen which was founded in 1977 for the promotion of committed and independant productions, Züri brännt documents the riots of summer 1981 in Zurich that resulted from the general exasperation of young people towards the prevailing bourgeois culture. Indeed its content is in line with the 'committed documentary' trend of that period, mixing together punk music, images of squats, demonstrations, street fights and political speeches. Its form, however, is quite atypical: it was edited from about a hundred hours of rushes and shot in the thick of the action by members of Videoladen, thanks to new video technology (Sony's renowned Portapak) which became available at the time and enabled total immersion. But most importantly it is the complexity of the editing which confers a special status to this film, with a series of very short shots contrasting with uncut speeches more typical of activist film-making, elaborate transition effects (superimposed shots, polarization, etc..)[1] and the introduction of images unrelated to the events (such as Godzilla in the streets of Zurich) in order to punctuate the views of the film-makers. These technical tricks and the full-blast soundtrack (in particular the song Züri brännt by TNT, which has recently been released on a Japanese label and which gave its name to the movie) shift it away from the traditional form of documentary film. With no claim for objectivity, it succeeds in conjuring up the atmoshere and liveliness of the moment through its clever editing. And with this conspicuous 'manipulation' of the depiction of reality, Züri brännt fits in the tradition of another kind of militant documentary cinema which also focuses on editing.