WR: Mysteries of the Organism (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

I saw "WR: Mystery of the Organism " in my youth, say age 20, at a film festival one evening almost 30 years ago. I do remember it having a strange effect on me and having stirred my original interest, delving into the work of (WR), Dr. Wilhelm Reich, the alleged mad scientist who died in prison for what he believed in.I have read maybe 12 to 15 different books on the subject of "Orgone Energy" and the good doctor over time. Some of WR's own works, which are psycho-sociological and way scientific at times, are a little hard to grasp. Mostly I've read the hip psuedo-scientific biographies and post-WR studies of which there were once several books available.Some were especially written by the followers and practitioners of his life energy and psycho-sexual liberation work. Though I remember the movie using just the more titillating portions of his theories as part of a spoof and sexual comedy, I still felt like there was a sense of truth and amazement implied in the use of them in the story. (Unlike the "Orgasmatron scene", a take off and exaggeration of his orgone accumulators, in Woody Allen's futuristic farce "Sleeper".)I think there may be a documentary about the making of the movie "WR": out there as well? I am suprised it or a revised production about Dr. Reich has not showed up on PBS or the Discovery Channel by now.Anyway, I was glad to find that the VHS tape of the movie is available and am looking forward to seeing it again.

I first saw this film in ‘74 in a theater in Austin, TX. Amazing. The life of Dr. Wilhelm Reich is about as fascinating a story as any you’ll ever know, and this one delivers. It’s a mixture of Reich research, social commentary on American sexuality, and some superb Russian satire of the dangers of sexual repression. This dvd is far better than the film I saw - sharp images, great sound, just great. I’ve bought about five copies as gifts.

This video was undertaken by Dusan Makavajev, who according to a 1971 film review article in the Journal of Orgonomy, obtained original footage of Reich from the Reich Museum, and interviews with various individuals who knew Reich and who had followed up on his research, by posturing as a "friend of Reich". He then proceeded to mix that original footage with pornographic images designed to plunge a knife into the heart of everything Reich argued about, and stood for. Only a few of Reich's genuine friends had the forethought to grant permissions based upon their approval of the final film - and they promptly refused such permission. It caused an uproar among those who knew and understood Reich, but Makavajev got his footage and danced away a laughing man. This film has done more damage to Reich's name and legacy than any single item one might point to, by distorting Reich's excellent and important biophysical work on the "Function of the Orgasm" (see book of this title) into a malignant advocacy of "free sex for all". Reich would puke forever if he saw how his life's work was so badly twisted. "F--- Freely" announces one of the heroes of this film, in a plot about an ice-skater who seduces, but then murders and decapitates one of the "revolutionary proletariat" female characters. A weak "plot" indeed, interspliced with porno images from the plaster-casters, the first male erection to appear on a US film, masturbation images, and people group-fornicating to cartoon music -- Makavajev's apparent idea of the "sexual revolution" -- all under a smiling wall portrait of Reich. "Freedom Peddling" is what comes to mind, and I can say with confidence that there is nothing of accuracy or authenticity about Reich in this film, aside from the interviews and short seconds of film from Reich's original archives, which were obtained by fraudulent means. Reich's work informs us, that the pornographic character is a sexually-frustrated character, no less than the sex-negative moralist of the organized church, and that they are in fact mirror images of each other, flip sides of the same coin. "Brothels are built from bricks of religion" as the poet William Blake once said -- and Reich's clinical work put substance to this idea. And so when this film was shown at my university years ago, the theatre was flooded with all the frustrated fraternity boys, come to hoot and ogle at the images of naked people. They learned nothing. Neither will anyone viewing this film, except perhaps how deceptive some Hollywood-types can be, even if they come from Yugoslavia.

I REALLY CAN'T SEE THE POINT OF THIS FILM, MAYBE BECAUSE I'M NOT YUGOSLAVIAN, WELL, IT'S STILL VISUALLY STUNNING, AND I SUGGEST IF YOU WANT A PORN MOVIE, AND YOU DON'T HAVE PLAYBOY OR BELAMI AROUND YOU, TRY THIS. EVEN CHANDLER WON'T CALL IT "THE WORST PORN EVER", TRUST ME.

A waste of money and time.

Good product and good service.

This is one of my favourite films ever - very very odd, part documentary about Wilhelm Reich and his bizarre ideas about sexual energy, part love story set in communist Yugoslavia. The sheer exuberance juxtaposed with melancholy and cut to scenes of cine-verite take your breath away. Definitely original at the time - it won the Cannes palme d'or - and very touching today, with a shock /humorous ending which in its way, is uplifting.

super