W.R. – Mysterien des Organismus (1971)

W.R. – Mysterien des Organismus: Directed by Dusan Makavejev. With Milena Dravic, Ivica Vidovic, Jagoda Kaloper, Tuli Kupferberg. A homage to the work of psychologist Wilhelm Reich, matched with a story about a Yugoslavian girl’s affair with a Russian skater. Sexual repression, social systems and the orgone theory are explored.

“I have been trying to see this for many years, particularly after I discovered Reich in my reading in the early 80u0026#39;s, read some of his writings as well as a great biography u0026quot;Fury on Earthu0026quot;. Now our library has it on a new video release, and I have to say it was worth the wait. It is a masterpiece of documentary insight into its subject Wilhelm Reich, of subversive cinema in that it has a great power to undermine the beliefs of the viewers/participators, and of classical comedy and drama as embodied (literally) in the u0026quot;fictional movieu0026quot; within the documentary. Occasionally punctuated by the wild and crazy NY poet/musician Tuli Kupferberg roaming the streets of Manhattan in full battle array and carrying an M-16 (I donu0026#39;t think they could get away with that these days, unless they had a Mr. De Niro in the cast.) Yes, it is blatant hippie/yippie revolutionary zeitgeist of 1968-1971, which was very much fueled by the father of the sexual revolution, Dr. Reich, who had died in 1957 in jail for not answering a subpoena to defend his claims of cancer cures. He said he would be judged by scientists but not by lawyers. Inasmuch as he was the only individual to have his books burned by both Hitler and the US government (FDA), his story and his philosophy should be more widely known, but of course he is still suppressed by some of the powers that be. The erotic content of u0026quot;WRu0026quot; is tame in the face of todayu0026#39;s hardcore but all the more effective for it, in that Reich condemned pornography but glorified healthy sexuality above all else. And for those u0026quot;dovesu0026quot; that still populate the earth by the millions or billions, the words and deeds of the good Dr. Reich, who was exiled by Hitler and then Stalin (who is shown in this documentary in some amazing pseudo-heroic films he had made of himself,) still resonate. As do the words of Tuli Kupferberg and his band The Fugs, on the soundtrack: u0026quot;Kill, kill, kill for peace…Near or far or very middle East…u0026quot;”