While everyone knows of the iconic series “The Matrix”, few people both in the spheres of cinema and Science Fiction know about “World on a Wire”, made in 1973, which spearheaded the concept of simulated worlds, two decades before the Wachowskis changed the Sci-Fi genre forever.
Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, one of the leaders of the New German Cinema movement of the 1970s, this film is one of his lesser known works, having been on West German television for only two nights in mid-October in the year of its release, before disappearing into obscurity for nearly four decades. A restored version was screened at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival, and has since found a place among niche cult films.
Based on Daniel Galouye’s 1964 novel “Simulacron-3”, “World on a Wire” tells the story of a group of businessmen and scientists working for an organization trying to study the artificial worlds they create. After the mysterious and sudden disappearance of his superior Henry Vollmer, Fred Stiller begins to question the reality of the world he lives in, leading him to uncover a corporate conspiracy that places a risk on all he knows.
With a run time of nearly three and a half hours, the film has a slower pace than what is to be expected of the genre, additionally, in its preference to subtly unnerving visuals and conversations, rather than spectacle, which culminates in Fred losing his mind during the last act of the film. Yet, despite the length, it paces well, with the characters being both somber and playful, their actors clearly having a blast bringing the strange universe to life. This is best represented in the villain, Herbert Siskins who bluffs his sinister intent with a knowing smile.
Much like the characters, the world and cinematography are just as playful and daring. Using a combination of unusual camera angles and slow tracking shots, some scenes play out in the reflections of mirrors or through glass to give a weary and simulated feeling to a world that looks like a near future based on the 70s. The opening shots are just barely out of focus, with the first look at Vollmer being from a distance, through glass, the negative space in the composition leading to a troubled atmosphere before the film even begins.
It is here that the greatest – and best – difference from “The Matrix” becomes apparent; this is not a world of flashy effects, and ruggedly stylish leather jackets worn by characters whose lives are entangled with the machines that rule them. “World on a Wire” is much more subdued in aesthetics, using the neat and clean styles of the early 70s to take on a more disquieting and streamlined style, befitting the businessmen and scientists that populate this (presumably cigarette reeking) world. It’s a unique take for a film that delves so greatly into various themes that are now synonymous with the cyberpunk subgenre.
Though most of the Sci-Fi themes are explored in dialogue and surrealist visuals, which may come across as cumbersome to some audiences, “World on a Wire” is a magically strange, surrealist dream which manages to blur the lines between existentialism and camp in ways few other films have. Like most slow and philosophical Sci-Fi movies, it gets better with every watch. So if you don’t like or understand it the first time; give it time and rewatch it. You’ll surely enjoy it more then.
“World on a Wire” in its entirety can be found on the Internet Archive for free with burned in subtitles!
