Dreams Rewired

Tilda Swinton narrates co-directors Manu Luksch, Martin Reinhart, and Thomas Tode's experimental documentary that draws on archival film clips to shed light on today's wired world—revisiting communications innovations of the past, beginning with the telephone and ending with the computer. Instead of serving up facts and figures, the film emphasizes thoughts and impressions, making for a dreamlike journey through the 20th century, although Swinton does focus on a few notable figures, such as Alice Guy, a Gaumont secretary who became the first director of narrative features, and Sergei Eisenstein, the Russian filmmaker who used cross-cutting to stir the emotions. Although the filmmakers don't identify the clips, which come mostly from national archives, some familiar faces appear, such as Charlie Chaplin in a 1984-like sequence from Modern Times, and Julian West in Carl Theodor Dreyer's Vampyr (the end credits list over 200 films). As the telephone became widely available, new jobs opened up for women, with switchboard operators helping to establish these connections. With the invention of the Dictaphone, secretaries were able to record a boss's messages, saving time and increasing efficiency. Radio, TV, and film also connected people, the latter whether they watched motion pictures in a theater or shared home movies with friends and family. The computer served as a business aid in the post-war years, long before it was as ubiquitous in homes as radio and TV—devices that computers have either supplanted, wed, or incorporated. And on a poetic note, Swinton says that “the city is transformed into the largest set of all time.” Of course, the inter-connective wonders of technology have also come at a price, including reduced privacy and increased surveillance on the part of the government and other interested parties. A thought-provoking, meditative film, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)