The Outsider (1981)
Cast: András Szabó, Jolan Fodor, Imre Donko
Director: Béla Tarr
Country: Hungary
Genre: Drama
Editor’s Notes: The following review is part of Next Projection Presents Apocalyptic Poetry: The Films of Bela Tarr. Please look out for more of our original series throughout 2015.
The seeds of greatness require proper nurturing before they can flourish to their fullest potential. A specimen will do everything it can to thrive with the available resources it is given, but if certain parameters are not met the specimen will most likely wither away and die, creating growth opportunities for less remarkable specimens that will use the abandoned resources of the fallen greats to contribute to the sustenance of their own mediocrity. In ecological settings this injustice of timing creates a homogeneity where different species of plants and animals live and flourish in a delicate balance that is unforgiving for the rare outcasts that evolved under different conditions. The ghost orchid is marvelous to behold, but incapable of propagation or growth unless exacting conditions are met. Does its lack of hardiness make it any less beautiful to behold? In sociopolitical settings normative behaviors and objective paths to success are spontaneously forged by the intricate workings of systems that evolve from local struggles and external influences that are completely outside of the control of its subjects. Western culture is one such influence that spreads its noxious vines in every direction, strangling the competition and imposing itself on cultures that emerged from gentler environmental conditions, rewriting the objectives for survival with wanton disregard for those unable to thrive in these new conditions.
The seeds of greatness require proper nurturing before they can flourish to their fullest potential. A specimen will do everything it can to thrive with the available resources it is given …
Rich cultural heritage is supplanted by the gaudy and new and you end up with specimens like The Outsider’s András, whose skills as a classical violinist hold little value in discotheques and abattoirs alike. A lack of pragmatic skills will ensure that András will never return to the conservatory to complete his classical training as he simply wasn’t made for the world he was born into. In a different cultural climate he may have had the potential to become the next Beethoven, but the world simply doesn’t slow down for those who lack the resources or abilities to keep up with its ever-changing parameters. András finds himself in a world that mistrusts the teetotaler but despises the drunkard and he loses his thankless job as a caretaker in a mental institution for falling on the wrong side of this delicate spectrum of self-medication. The world has enough mediocre violinists and he is unable to secure financial stability as an unskilled laborer, so he tries to forge new paths to the derision of his wife who sees his efforts to leverage his musical background to become a self-sustaining discotheque manager as nothing more than a vain attempt to attract the attention of other women.
Tarr’s youthful uncertainty and lack of experience have not yet taught him the cosmological and ontological significance of truths that can only be found in mental hospitals and pubs …
Bela Tarr exhibits the seeds of his own future greatness in The Outsider, intrigued by the orbital movements of bar patrons and mental patients as they dance around one another with the erratic precision of the cosmos. Tarr’s youthful uncertainty and lack of experience have not yet taught him the cosmological and ontological significance of truths that can only be found in mental hospitals and pubs; the havens of scoundrels, derelicts, and brow-beaten underachievers who can see the secret significance in the movement of the stars but are incapable of flourishing in the unnatural constructs of the civilized world.
Bela Tarr exhibits the seeds of his own future greatness in The Outsider, intrigued by the orbital movements of bar patrons and mental patients as they dance around one another with the erratic precision of the cosmos.
