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BAGHDAD CAFE (1987) responds to a universal plot approach. It tells the story of a woman A foreign woman arrives in a desert town where the rules of social behavior are rigidly defined, and through her interactions with the inhabitants, she transforms their value system. While the idea sounds interesting, it's not entirely new; it's almost as old as the West itself. The interest lies in the way the director... Percy Adlon, He transforms it into a cinematic work. Adlon has the advantage of being an art historian, which is why he understands aesthetics. This allows him to convert the language of the script—that is, actions described with words—into an audiovisual discourse, close to painting and photography, which at times is closely related to the music videos popular during the 1980s.
The film is groundbreaking in its use of color and also in its camerawork, although the latter is at times a mere artifice. Color serves to express the conflict between the two strong characters in the story.
This relationship between form and content makes the daring aesthetic coherent for the viewer. Added to this are more decorative elements, such as angled camera shots and changes in film texture, which help keep the audience engaged.
The choice of music is also a success. The work aligns itself with a "pop" trend, eclectic by nature, which allows the visuals to be easily digested by viewers accustomed to other, more conciliatory approaches. This idea of 80s pop, reflecting an abandonment of radical positions in favor of more conciliatory ones, suggests a certain postmodern aesthetic, in which all colors and textures are welcome, and in which even the most antagonistic characters are destined to understand each other. This does not preclude the references to the painting of Giorgio de Chirico, who explores the possibility of opposites coexisting in the same time and space, presents a film from the late 20th century where anything is possible, set in the aftermath of a Cold War that seemed to signal the end of all conflict.