In die Welt 5

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In die Welt 4

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In die Welt 1

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In die Welt 2

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In die Welt 3

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Director
Constantin Wulff
Country
  • AT
Year
2008
Length
88
Shooting Format
  • 35mm
Aspect Ratio
  • 1:1,66 (5:3)
Sound
  • Stereo

Into the World

A moving portrait of a maternity clinic in Vienna provides a fascinating look at the drama, pain and beauty of entering this world. In all its intensity and variety, the everyday miracle of birth is depicted in direct cinema and linked to the cycle of the procedures that accompany it. A chronicle of life’s beginning - and the organization surrounding it.


A maternity clinic in Vienna is the setting of Constantin Wulff’s moving documentary
Into the World. In the finest tradition of direct cinema the film dispenses entirely with commentary, interviews and music, and any kind of exposition at all: The viewer is merely placed in the middle of the action. Thanks to the art of careful editing, fascinating observations and microdramas of everyday life are assembled into larger themes that go far beyond a simple portrait of a medical clinic, becoming in a sense a portrait of society as it relates to birth.
Characteristic of the film’s complexity is the first depiction of a birth: Over ten minutes in length, it’s the longest scene of all, one of the most intense and - depending on the point of view of those involved - either everyday routine or high drama. Together with others, which are recorded with equal confidence, the result is a small panorama of the many aspects of
how individuals enter the world between pain and happiness, and this is embedded in a larger, fascinating panorama of its institutional nature.
As if to emphasize the singular aspect and adventure of each birth, the film begins with a critical situation: a baby in an incubator, the diagnosis is uncertain. The title is followed by
a depiction of the cycles in the clinic’s daily routine: from examination to examination,
from ultrasound to ultrasound. Inserted between the individual microdramas are incidental observations with deeper meanings and, most importantly, procedures that repeat until they become a leitmotif. The film shows the necessary, “concealed” processes such as the arrangement of medications and instruments; the analysis of information; the weighing
and measuring, washing and feeding of the newborns, and of course the inconspicuous omnipresence of the cleaning staff. Most importantly, the growing mountain of files represents the unavoidable proliferation of organizational work. Into the World is a
chronicle of life’s beginning - and the organization surrounding it.

Assistant Director
Michaela Kleinrath