Photos from everyday life or from the future? “Lola” skilfully crosses time. Photo: /New Visions
Two sisters as guardian angels from the future: Andrew Legge’s science fiction film “Lola” about the Second World War in England in a parallel reality is formally courageous, touching and highly topical.
The moon landing, the Beatles, David Bowie and his “Major Tom” – there is so much to look forward to in the future, the sisters Thomasina (Emma Appleton) and Martha Hanbury (Stefanie Martini) find out with the help of their self-made clay -Image time machine “Lola”.
But in the reality of 1940 England, dark clouds are gathering, Germany has invaded Poland and is fighting an air battle over the United Kingdom. Previously, Thomasina and Martha had used Lola to receive music, commercials and betting reports from the future. The latter also to earn something; After the early death of their parents, the young women live alone and almost penniless in the family’s decaying country estate.
Historical and historical-seeming things combine to create false documentation
When the Germans attack England, the sisters act as anonymous guardian angels warning the population of upcoming bombings, but are soon exposed and forced by Lieutenant Sebastian Holloway (Rory Fleck Byrne) to work as secret advisors to the Royal Air Force.
Andrew Legge’s feature film debut “Lola” is a bit of a stroke of genius. As part of a science fiction parallel world narrative, Legge crosses historical with historical-seeming material that he assembles into a false documentary, a so-called mockumentary about “Lola” and the time of the air war. Within the plot, the sisters document their invention with a camera, which is why Legge works with black and white film in a historical format, which he ages artificially. He combines the recordings of the sisters with partly manipulated excerpts from authentic newsreels showing Hitler and Churchill, but also with TV images of the moon landing and pop music videos from the “British Invasion” of the sixties. The audience becomes accomplices of the sisters, who are supposed to influence the course of the air war in England’s interests.
The topic of the time machine and parallel world narrative also means that changing history has significant side effects. And so Legge describes how Oswald Mosley, the actual founder of the British Union of Fascists, overthrew Winston Churchill and converted Great Britain into a fascist state. Instead of David Bowie, the right-wing radical songwriter Reginald Watson (Shaun Boylan) is now stirring up the teenagers.
A highly topical stroke of genius
Legge’s story is sad and touching, but at the same time the film addresses highly topical issues such as the credibility of media representations and the question of whether and how one can approach the past today in order to learn from it. It has rarely been told as intelligently and formally sophisticated as here.
Lola. Ireland/GB 2022. Director: Andrew Legge. With Emma Appleton, Rory Fleck Byrne, Stefanie Martini. 79 minutes. From 12 years. Start: December 28th
2023-12-28 11:51:58
#cinema #Lola #England #parallel #reality
