“The Brutalist” film directed by Brady Corbet, 2024
This is a Jewish immigrant story set in the aftermath of
World War II. The physical and mental
traumas inflicted by that war play out in this drama, which parades as an
actual biopic of a famous architect. It
is really pure fiction. The dark term “brutalism” was first hurled at Soviet-era
buildings as a form of anti-communism, but recently it has been used to
describe many buildings in the U.S. and elsewhere. It is a style of austere modernist architecture
using concrete, rebar and steel related to the work of the Bauhaus, Mies van der
Rohe, Corbusier and others.
The film sees this form of building as an unusual art. But the central project of the film, a huge,
blocky construction at the top of a high hill in a small Pennsylvania town,
seems absurd. It is the ‘dream’ of a
wealthy benefactor as a monument – or mausoleum – to his mother, incorporating
a gym, theater, library and Christian church built “for the community.” László Tóth, a Hungarian Jew, is charged with
designing it. The role is played by Adrien Brody as the tortured immigrant and Jewish
genius, a role this actor has patented.
The class question is central, as the benefactor treats Tóth
like a talented servant, both praising and belittling him and finally raping
him in a drunken scene. The film, like
the lightless catacomb Tóth is designing, is claustrophobic. You are stuck with this family, their huge
European-style house (an Andrassy mansion in Hungary actually) and their
obsession with this construction, which few in this small town would enjoy. We later learn it was inspired by Tóth’s time
in Buchenwald, which accounts for many of the tiny rooms with high ceilings. Yes, really. And the gym shower room? The stated inspiration is a ridiculous
conceit by the writers. Some of the real
shots of this structure were taken of parts of actual ‘brutalist’ buildings built
during the workers’ state period in Hungary.
Anti-Semitism is a constant in the film, as Tóth, his
crippled wife and her mute niece finally settle in the guest house at the
mansion. His wife’s legs had been damaged by hunger in the Dachau camp. The
niece probably had been raped by Soviet soldiers in Budapest. Prior to that Tóth is fired by his
Americanized friend for a library project that resulted in non-payment and a
false allegation of hitting on his beautiful wife. The wealthy treat these immigrants as curiosities. They are told they are only tolerated by the
benefactor’s son. People in town have
questions about his religion, politics and more, even after he agrees to include
a Christian church with a cross shining on its Carrara marble font. The Zionist niece finally decides to move to
Israel as a form of ‘alia,’ leaving Toth and his wife. The implication is that they will be welcome there, unlike the U.S.
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| An actual Hungarian 'brutalist' department store |
The story pretends to show how ‘the American Dream’ – a ridiculous
phrase even now – is difficult for Jewish immigrants and presumably all
immigrants. However the film ends with
an ‘epilogue’ at the 1980 Venetian architecture Biennale that pretends to show
Tóth’s successful life of architecture after the final construction of the epic
‘community’ center. His wife’s grown niece
makes a speech about how it is not ‘the journey’ in life, it is the ‘destination’
– implying that his buildings have made Tóth a great success, no matter how
brutal the journey. So the ‘brutalist’
is not just Tóth, it is his capitalist benefactor, anti-Semitic U.S. culture
and striving for the ‘American dream’ too.
This overly-long film is up for 10 academy awards, as
Holocaust films usually have some credibility and gravitas, no matter how
fanciful. It’s Oscar bait. It is a chore
to sit through and predictable in a liberal way. The occasional pounding music is far too loud
and the main project not believable at all.
The central character, who was an accomplished, middle-class architect
pre-war, trained by the Bauhaus, somehow doesn’t seek a job at a Philadelphia
firm. He instead finds himself shoveling
coal after being fired by his friend, hanging at jazz clubs, shooting up heroin
and befriending a black worker. This all
seems somewhat synthetic and in a word, fake class-wise. My advice for this claustrophobic film? Avoid unless this moody, atmospheric movie
intrigues you.
Note: The film was shot in Hungary, now a center for film production due to cheap wages and yet skilled cinema workers. It's the European version of Atlanta right now.
Prior blogspot reviews on this subject, us blog search
box, upper left, to investigate our 19 year archive, using these terms: “holocaust,”
‘immigrant,’ ‘architecture.’
The Kultur Kommissar / February 3, 2025
