wśród róż - among roses

Two young men practice the modern Japanese martial art of Aikido in a gym. In the background we hear a melancholy female voice singing a Polish children's song about a king and queen and their page, which ends in a horrible fate.

At first, viewers of among roses have difficulty making a direct connection between the imagery and soundtrack. And yet, by editing her material in a certain way, Kathrin Maria Wolkowicz manages to tie together the visual and acoustic levels. The soft but powerful music reinforces the effect of the flowing, sweeping movements of the focused combatants, while the dramaturgy of the sequence of connected scenes, which are sometimes played in reverse and interrupted by black screens, corresponds with the song's narrative. Through this interplay, the common content of both levels is revealed: the dramatization of violence. In the end, however, the exaggerated, dance-like movements of Aikido and the punch line at the end of the children's song ultimately have the effect of trivializing and defusing this theme. The viewer is enticed into taking on the role of entertained consumer. (Julia Kürten)