Gottfried Helnwein and the Dreaming Child

In a cross-disciplinary pollination, Viennese-born artist Gottfried Helnwein—whose oversized canvasses present photographs of waiflike children in macabre, threatening, and grotesque poses (holding guns, bloodied, and sometimes appearing to be dead)—was selected as the guest production designer for an opera based on The Dreaming Child, a stage piece by Israeli writer and dramatist Hanoch Levin (who died in 1999) that similarly explores the innermost fears of a little girl, which chiefly focus on parental loss and nightmarish quasi-military authority figures. Helnwein says that his haunting imagery grew from the guilty silence—regarding the Holocaust—in which he grew up, leading to a fixation with the thousands of suffering and exploited children. The mounting of The Dreaming Child (in Tel Aviv and Los Angeles) witnesses some temper tantrums and kerfluffle (Israeli labor laws thwart the use of an age-correct child actress/vocalist). Although described as a kindred spirit to Helnwein, the celebrated Levin remains a shadowy figure here, and The Dreaming Child itself only comes across in fragments as a Cirque du Soleil-style oddity in Lisa Kirk Colburn's documentary, which mainly serves as a portrait of Helnwein. A seemingly levelheaded (despite his odd fashion sense) family man, Helnwein's work might easily strike many as transgressive voyeurism—some of it derives directly from forensic photos. The avant-garde opera becomes quite literally an art installation for him, leaving little doubt whose story this is. DVD extras include outtakes and an art gallery. A strong optional purchase. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)