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Unrest
Cyril Schäublin

Unrest

  • Drama
  • History
Play Trailer
RELEASE

2022-11-04

BUGET

N/A

LENGTH

94 min

Description

In 1877, in a watch factory in a valley in north-western Switzerland, Josephine produces balance spindles, tiny parts that ensure the agitation movement (“unrueh") of the mechanical watches. She soon grows uneasy with the organisation of work and possession in the village and its factory and joins the anarchist worker movement of the local watchmakers. There she meets Piotr Kropotkin, a moony Russian traveller. The two of them meet at a time when new technologies such as time measurement, photography, and the telegraph are transforming the social order, and anarchist discourse is addressing emerging nationalism. During a walk in the woods, Josephine and Piotr ask themselves whether time, money, and the government are not all but fictions.

Reviews

badelf

@badelf

Based on Pyotr Kropotkin's "Memoirs of a Revolutionist," Cyril Schäublin's "Unrueh" is fascinating and surprisingly easy to watch despite its deliberate pacing. The film's stylism is exceptional, successfully recreating the atmosphere of 1870s Swiss watchmaking culture with meticulous attention to detail. The acting is solid, and there's a running irony in the constant adjustment of the factory clock—a perfect metaphor for workers trying to reclaim control over their own time from industrial capitalism.

The film's precision pacing mirrors the mechanical world it depicts, and the historical look is impeccable. Schäublin understands the visual language of the period and uses it effectively.

However, two significant faults undermine the film's success. First, it's never quite clear that some watchmakers are part of the commune-anarchist collective. The factory workers' affiliations are evident, but the watchmakers remain opaque, creating confusion about who stands where politically. Second, and more damaging, the film simply stops in the middle. "Unrueh" is supposedly about Kropotkin's conversion to anarchism, yet his character development and arc are completely missing. We're left with a beautiful mechanism that never quite completes its revolution.

A film about precision ironically lacks the narrative precision to land its point.