The Michigan Daily- Friday, January 17,1992 - Page 9
The Nasty Girl (1990)
dir. Michael Verhoeven
No, this is not a porno movie.
On the contrary, German director
Michael Verhoeven's The Nasty
Girl, a hilarious and provocative
satire that's dead serious at heart,
is one of the most well-made
films ever about the Holocaust. If
you missed this German import
during its undeservedly brief
stint in the U.S. last winter, don't
make the same mistake twice.
The movie, which was nomi-
nated for an Oscar as Best Foreign
language Film, is the seemingly
charming and offbeat coming of
"age story of a typical German girl
named Sonja who grows up in a
provincial hamlet in Bavaria, long
after the demise of the Third
Reich.
Sonja enters an essay contest;
the topic is "What my town did
during the Third Reich." Sonja
'figures she'll write a lovely paean
to her town's heroic efforts in the
German resistance. But she can't
understand why no one will help
her in her research.
Sonja probes a little further
and discovers the reason: her town
was a hotbed of virulent Nazis
who enthusiastically persecuted
Jews and other enemies of the
state during the Nazi regime.
The Nasty Girl is about irony.
When Sonja tries to look through
the town archives from the Nazi
period, the town officials give her
a barrage of excuses, claiming the
files are classified, lost and "on
loan." When Sonja's book detail-
ing the role her town played dur-
ing the Third Reich is published,
the same neighbors who threat-
ened her, abused her and bombed
her house applaud her as a hero at a
public ceremony.
Verhoeven heightens the sim-
ple irony of the plot with a
breezy directing style. When
Sonja goes to the archives to try
to retrieve the town records,
Verhoeven shows a black and
white backdrop curtain instead of
the actual interior. In one scene,
Sonja and her family's living
room actually grows wheels and
drives around the village as neigh-
bors leave vicious messages on
Sonja's answering machine.
Some have argued that
Verhoeven's flippant tone is inap-
propriate for the serious subject
of the Holocaust. That's precisely
the point. Verhoeven's tone is in-
appropriate in the same way that
the town's disgusting reactions to
Sonja' s essay are inappropriate.
Just as Verhoeven's stylish tricks
hide the serious subject at the
heart of his film, so do the town's
angry denials hide their inner
guilt and fear.
Of all the ironies of this film,
however, perhaps the greatest are
the real life ironies associated
with The Nasty Girl. The actual
personal Sonja was based on, Anja
Rosmus, has had to leave her town
to try and start life over again
elsewhere. Revisionist scholars
are everywhere, proclaiming the
Robbie Robertson
Storyville
Geffen
Based on the cast Robertson and
producer Stephen Hague have as-
sembled for this collection, an al-
ternative title might be The Last
Gumbo. Although the album is a
song-cycle based on the Storyville
section of New Orleans and features
many of the finest musicians from
that area, the music has very little
to do with the Bayou specifically.
That, however, was Robbie's point.
The arrangements are designed to
show a wide variety of musical
backgrounds. If anyone has ever
imagined what a cross between the
Band, Bruce Hornsby, and the Me-
ters would sound like, "Go Back to
Your Woods" is that dream come
true. The horn part makes this one of
the years hottest tracks. "Shake This
Town" features everything between
the Rebirth Brass Band and R.E.M.'s
Mike Mills.
Ballads like "What About
Now," with Ivan and Aaron
Neville, and "Hold Back the Dawn"
also mix various styles success-
fully. This is probably why Robert-
son wanted to work with Hague,
who is known more for producing
artists like the Human League.
On paper, the forces behind
"Don't You Want Me," "Hey
Picky Way" and "Up on Cripple
Creek" don't seem to add up, but on
disc, they come together to create
one extremely unique recording.
-Andrew J. Cahn
Lush
"Nothing Natural"
(CD-single)
4AD
Like the Cocteau Twins, Lush
drowns listeners in a sea of guitars.
Like the Cocteau Twins, Lush fea-
tures beautifully harmonized fe-
male vocals. Like the Cocteau
Twins, Lush is on the ever-moody
4AD record label.
Notice a pattern here? Sure they
sound like their more famous label
mates. With Cocteau Twins
guitarist Robin Guthrie as their
producer, did you expect anything
else?
The two versions of "Nothing
Natural," which differ only in
length, are the highlights of Lush's
latest release. This upbeat tune fea-
tures wave upon wave of shimmer-
ing guitars, under the ever-dreamy
vocals of Emma Anderson and MilM
Berenyi.
"God's Gift" is also upbeat and
quite good, sounding less processed
than the other songs, but not by
much.
While not particularly innova-
tive, Lush has succeeded in creating
music that embodies the word
"pretty" - like the Cocteau Twins.
-Richard Davis
Sonja (Lena Stolze) hangs in the "library" in front of the projection
screen with some librarian dude (Ottfried Fischer). Where's that "Nasty
Girl" Janet Jackson for a dance sequence when you need her?
egregious falsehood that the
Holocaust "never happened."
A recent poll in Germany,
taken two years after The Nasty
Girl achieved huge box office and
critical success in that country,
reveals that over a quarter of
Germans feel that Jews have too
much power in the world and are
themselves largely to blame for
the Holocaust.
The Nasty Girl is playing to-
morrow night at 7:30 p.m. and
9:15 p.m. in MLB 3.
-Aaron Hamburger
i
who what where when
----------- i
The Royal Crescent Mob,
Columbus, Ohio's finest alternative
export since Scrawl, plays Rick's
tomorrow night. Rolling Stone calls
the Mob an "intense mix of rock &
roll abandon and funk covers." The
multi-racial quartet's live shows
are astounding. Call 996-2747 for
more info.
Life is tough for Axl Rose these
days. Poor AxI ripped his hand open
in Dayton, Ohio, and had to postpone
the rest of the Guns N' Roses tour.
But have no fear, because the vastly
superior Soundgarden, who was
slated to open for Guns 'N Roses, is
still going to play. They'll be head-
lining a special all-ages show to-
morrow at their favorite venue, St.
Andrew's Hall. Tickets are $10, and
available at the door only. If you've
never seen Chris Cornell (left) and
the rest of Soundgarden live, get
ready to be totally amazed. This
show will definitely sell-out, so
get there early - doors open at 7:30
p.m. And for those of you that actu-
ally care, Guns 'N Poses have re-
scheduled their shows for April 13
and 14. See you there. NOT.
Basement Arts will be holding
auditions for Edward Bond's play
Narrow Road to the Deep North
Thursday and Friday, January 23 and
24, from 6 p.m. to. 10 p.m. Call backs
will be held on Saturday. Sign-up
sheets are located on the call board
in the theater student Green Room,
in the basement of the Frieze Build-
ing.
C lJ C DO C R
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" MULTI COLOR SPECIALISTS
" ARTIST ON STAFF
- RUSH ORDERS
" NEAR U OF M CAMPUS
I,
'ROSPECT, ANN ARBOR 665-1771
)FF with this ad
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1992
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Cornell
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Ann Arbor Civic Theatre
-PR ESENTiS-
BRIGHION
EACH
a MEMOIR:
s "ANNAwNEWS .: ,
by Neil Simon
A ndercassmen
WARDS
Reading by Pulitzer Prize-Winning Poet
CHARL ESI Academy of American Poets Prize
C LE SIMIC Bain-Swiggett Poetry Prize
Author of: Michael R. Gutterman Poetry Award
Charon's Cosmology Roy W. Cowden Memorial Fellowship
Classic Ballroom Dances Tuesday, January 21
Unending Blues
Selected Poems: 1963-1983 3:30 p.m.
The World Doesn't End Rackham Auditorium
The Book of Gods and Devils Open to the Public
'FoljFestival
a fundraiser for the Ark
Saturday, January 25,1992
6:00 p.m. * Hill Auditorium
Lyle Lovett * Odetta e Livingston Taylor
The Four Bitchin' Babes with Christine Lavin, Julie Gold,
Megon McDonough and Sally Fingerett " Len Chandler " John Gorka
Robert Earl Keen, Jr. " Fred Small " Jan Krist with Paul Murphy " and others
Tickets available at: The Michigan Union Ticket Office,
all Ticketmaster outlets, Herb David Guitar Studio.
7 ' Charge tickets by phone call 763-TKTS >
Directed by Wendy Wright
Jan. 22-25, 1992-8 p.m.
Sat. Matinee-2 p.m.
LYDIA MENDELSSOHN
THEATER
For Ticket Information:
before
Jan. 20-662-7282
after Jan. 20-763-1085
A _.
The University of Michigan
SCHOOL OF MUSIC
Thur. Jan
23
University of Michigan
Jazz Combos
Ed Sarath, director
Tickets: $2
North Campus Commons, 8 p.m.
Marvin Winans and the U-M
Gospel Chorale
Stephen Newby, director
Tickets: $12 and $7 (students)
Rackham Lecture Hall, 8 p.m.
Faculty Harp Recital by
Lynne Aspnes
Assisted by John Wickey, harp
School of Music Recital Hall, 8 p.m.
Mozart Solo Piano Competition
Fri. Jan. 24
Sun. Jan. 26
For undergraduate and graduate pianists at the
University of Michigan
Co-sponsored by Wilfried Hildebrandt and
Ford Motor Co.
School of Music Recital Hall, 1:00-6:00 p.m.
Michigan Chamber Players
Beethoven: Quintet for Piano and
Winds; Kodaly: Duo; and other works
With Louis Nagel, piano; Harry Sargous,
14K gold regularly $50 off, now $100 off. 10K gold regularly $25 off, now $50 off
JOSTENS
Stop by and see a Jostens representative,
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