Monday, March 16, 2020 — 7
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Last Tuesday evening, book critic 

Donna Rifkind spoke to a modest 

audience in the sun-soaked coffee 

shop above Literati bookstore. 

Rifkind’s reviews have appeared 

frequently in the Wall Street 

Journal, The New York Times 

Book Review and Washington 

Post. However, earlier this week 

she presented her own first book, 

entitled, “The Sun and Her Stars: 

Salka Viertel and Hitler’s Exiles 

in the Golden Age of Hollywood.” 

This biography follows the untold 

true story of Salka Viertel (the 

“sun”), the Austrian-born actress 

and screenwriter who opened her 

door in Santa Monica to countless 

European 
actors, 
composers, 

scientists and artists (the “stars”) 

after they were forced out of 

Hitler’s Germany. 

Weaving in facts about the life 

of her “sun,” Rifkind spent the 

evening at Literati describing her 

writing process for the book. She 

grew up in Los Angeles in a self-

described 
bookish 
house 
with 

somewhat 
mysterious 
eastern 

European grandparents. Naming 

the Beach Boys and Disneyland as 

examples, she explained 

how everything at the time 

of her adolescence was new; 

California was thought of 

as a “cultural wasteland” in 

comparison to the artistic 

and relatively diverse East 

Coast. After a decade of 

living on the “superior” 

East 
Coast, 
Rifkind 

returned 
to 
California, 

and it was then that she 

came across Salka Viertel’s 

name.

Viertel 
was 
famous 

for 
being 
one 
of 
the 

best-connected 
women 

in 
Hollywood’s 
Golden 

Age. One of her well-

documented 
friendships 

was with Greta Garbo, who 

was one of the most famous 

actresses of the 1920s and 

’30s. Salka was married to 

Berthold Viertel, a famous 

Viennese 
filmmaker. 

The list goes on and on. When 

researching this interesting yet 

forgotten woman, Rifkind realized 

that Viertel could be found almost 

exclusively in the footnotes of more 

famous actors’ books. She decided 

she would have to write Viertel’s 

biography herself. 

In her discussion of the subject of 

her book, Rifkind made it clear that 

Viertel was an exceptional woman. 

She 
invited 
exiled 
strangers 

into 
an 
international 

community of struggling 

yet 
immensely 
talented 

artists. Viertel herself was 

also a screenwriter and an 

actor, classically trained in 

Europe and fluent in eight 

languages. At the time, 

women had a lot influence, 

but no actual formal power 

in the film industry; Viertel 

used this influence to act 

as a connector between 

the German emigrants and 

Hollywood.

Rifkind also explained 

some of the background 

necessary to understand 

just 
how 
impactful 

Viertel’s actions were at 

the time. While there was 

an abundance of new and 

innovative technology in 

Los Angeles and the film 

industry 
seemed 
to 
be 

progressing by leaps and 

bounds in technique, there was a 

relative shortage of real creativity. 

As the artists who had been 

greatly successful in Germany 

began to arrive in California, they 

needed help, both financially and 

linguistically. Viertel used her 

connections and experience in both 

the film industry and in Europe 

to become a sort of “cultural 

broker.” She opened up her home, 

connected struggling artists with 

filmmakers in need of content, 

acting as a translator and liaison. 

Rifkind said Viertel “softened the 

boundaries between high culture 

and commerce in Hollywood.” She 

went on further to say that a lot of 

the famous stories coming out of 

Hollywood from that time period 

“had their genesis in Salka’s living 

room.”

In her research, she came across 

German 
playwright 
and 
poet, 

Bertolt Brecht, who was one of 

the many exiled artists during the 

Third Reich. With the chaos and 

uncertainty in the world during 

the lives of the people in this book, 

Brecht is perhaps most famous for 

this quote: “In the dark times will 

there also be singing? Yes, there 

will also be singing. About the dark 

times.” This is the clear and simple 

message of Rifkind’s piece.

The most famous review of “The 

Hunt” comes from the 45th president 

of the United States. The man 

formerly known as Donald Drumpf 

tweeted that “The Hunt” was made 

“to inflame and cause chaos. They 

(the filmmakers) create their own 

violence, and then try to blame others. 

They are the true Racists, and are very 

bad for our country!”

The 45th president wasn’t the only 

person to weigh in. Much has been 

said about “The Hunt,” most of which 

came before its release. The buzz 

concerned the plot, which consists of 

“liberal elites” sport hunting radical 

conservatives, dubbed “Deplorables,” 

at a manor in Vermont.

Now, this reviewer is no President 

of the United States, but I do know 

a bit about movies — enough to 

determine that “The Hunt” isn’t 

inflammatory, 
racist 
or 
harmful 

to Americans. Real dangers, like 

shootings and viral infections, easily 

combatable by gun control and test 

kits respectively, probably should be 

higher on this President’s priority list 

than exploitation cinema, but that’s 

neither here nor there. Now, back to 

“The Hunt.”

The movie was originally supposed 

to be released in September 2019, but 

was pulled in the wake of the Dayton 

and El Paso shootings, and moved to 

Mar. 14 of this year (ironically perhaps 

an even worse time to release the 

movie, but who could have known). 

The release date switch was both 

spurred by and accompanied with 

controversy, from both sides of the 

political aisle. Be it because of its 

perceived “glorification of violence,” 

or depiction of deplorable hunting, 

many deemed “The Hunt” “a movie 

that should never have been made.” 

However, 
others 
lamented 
the 

movie’s delay, with one pundit calling 

it “left-wing political correctness… 

getting out of control.” Everyone had 

something to complain about, yet no 

one had even seen the movie. 

Like 
with 
“Joker,” 
so 
much 

had been predicted, analyzed and 

determined about “The Hunt” before 

its release that it was always destined 

to fall short of every hyperbolic claim 

lobbed its way.

First of all, it’s not hate speech. 

“The Hunt” takes aim at everyone, 

reflecting current politics through 

a fun-house mirror that inflates 

the worst qualities of both sides 

of the political aisle. The liberals 

are arrogant, touchy “holier than 

thou” CEOs of huge companies. The 

conservatives are racist, homophobic 

and trophy hunters. While “The 

Hunt” is undoubtedly satirical, it does 

not try to solve America’s problems — 

its politics are too exaggerated to be 

sincere, leaving the viewer to make 

their own conclusions. They’re also 

incredibly funny. One highlight is 

when one of the elites shoots someone 

and leans in, exclaiming, “For the 

record, climate change is real!”

Political flourishes aside, though, 

“The Hunt” is really just a well-done 

thriller. There’s a fascinating swap 

of protagonists at the start, where 

it seems that every character is 

expendable, as well as a few cool fight 

scenes. Betty Gilpin (“Killing Eve”) is 

great too. It’s basically “Black Mirror” 

meets 
“Inglourious 

Basterds,” 
a 
hyper-

violent, 
imaginative 

and satirical thrill ride 

which 
doesn’t 
take 

itself too seriously. Still, 

this feels like somewhat 

of an anticlimax. Was 

all the arguing really 

about something this 

harmless? 

It’s high time movies 

stopped 
becoming 

hotbeds of controversy 

for 
no 
reason. 
All 

the 
hand-wringing 

creates 
unreasonable 

extremes 
that 
the 

movies involved rarely 

live up to. Don’t presidents and TV 

news anchors have better things to 

do than lament the perceived politics 

of an action movie? The conservative 

pundits couldn’t get over the term 

“Deplorable,” even though it is only 

used once or twice in the entire movie. 

Keep in mind, these people are fine 

with hurling “snowflake” at most 

liberal pleas for decency.

Movies aren’t meant to be picked 

apart 
by 
political 
demagogues. 

They’re meant to be watched, and 

hopefully enjoyed, by individuals. It’s 

past time to move past the outrage 

machine — turning cinema into an 

ideological battleground does nothing 

but cloud the movies themselves. If 

people watch a movie before arguing 

about it, everyone will be better off as 

the films can actually stand on their 

own.

That’s not to say that cinema 

shouldn’t engage with contemporary 

issues or be debated for doing so. 

However, if any movie that includes 

politics is going to become a flashpoint 

of societal rage before it is even 

released, studios may eventually start 

avoiding them entirely which, in the 

age of masterpieces like “Get Out” 

and “The Invisible Man,” would be 

something truly deplorable.

‘The Hunt’ is just another thriller, 
despite what the president claims

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

FILM REVIEW
FILM REVIEW

The Hunt

Ann Arbor 20 + IMAX, Quality 16

Universal Pictures

COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW
Rifkind discusses her bio of Hollywood hero of Holocaust

CAROLINE ATKINSON

Daily Arts Writer

 This biography follows 
the untold true story of 
Salka Viertel (the “sun”), 
the Austrian-born actress 

and screenwriter who 

opened her door in Santa 

Monica to countless 

European actors, 

composers, scientists and 
artists (the “stars”) after 
they were forced out of 

Hitler’s Germany. 

ANDREW WARRICK

Daily Arts Writer

Movies aren’t 

meant to be picked 
apart by political 

demagogues. 

They’re meant to 
be watched, and 
hopefully enjoyed, 

by individuals.

