The Birch Tree – Ante Babaja’s film Gesamtkunstwerk

Abstract

The  Birch  Tree  (1967),  directed  by  Ante  Babaja,  is  one  of  the  most outstanding  achievements of Croatian film modernism. It touches on the problem of rural life, which is unusual for film modernism. The work is inspired by Slavko  Kolar’s rural prose, naive paintings by artists  from Hlebine  and  north  Croatian  folk  rites  and  songs.  In  this film,  Babaja  presents a naturalistic interpretation of rural existence, where the human spirit is stifled by dull material  and  inert  nature. The  Birch  Tree  is  also  an  example  of  a  film  Gesamtkunstwerk  that combines not only the elements of various arts (painting, literature, music, theatre), but also two historical-cultural models of artistic creation: the modernist and the folk.