Theater of War
Directed by John W. Walter
Filmmaker John Walter artfully
captures Meryl Streep groping for – and then seizing
– the character in her unforgettable portrayal of Mother
Courage in Tony Kushner’s adaptation of the Bertolt Brecht
masterpiece Mother Courage and Her Children, which was presented by The
Public Theater/NY Shakespeare Festival in Central Park in the summer of
2006. As Manohla Dargis in the Times observed, “filmmaker
John Walter jumps from art to history and politics and back again, from
the theater of the streets to the theater of the stage, without pause.
That makes the movie… tough to summarize, which is part of
its appeal."
Though this film could easily have been crafted
into a star vehicle for Streep and Kevin Kline, Walter instead digs
deeply into Brecht’s motives and politics, unearthing the
playwright’s famed and famously clever testimony before the
House Un-American Activities Committee – the day after which
he fled from the United States.
THEATER OF WAR is about theater and
war, capitalism and Marxism, the postwar anti-Communist hysteria of the
1950s, and one literary genius’s ability to make art from
them all.
Reviews
"Meryl Streep was a stunning Mother Courage on stage." - Time Out New York
"A must-see documentary for theater lovers." - Variety
"A captivating documentary, as entertaining as it is edifying." - The Times-Picayune