Walden

Massachusets, USA, 1845: Henry David Thoreau borrowed a "small axe" and went to Walden Lake. He built a small hut on the shore in which he lived for two years - an "experiment":
" I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms." (Henry David Thoreau)

"Walden" is more than a report: Nowadays it is considered as the first text on self-subsistence and nature protection, as an early criticism of globalization, but also as anti-social, romantic glorification of nature and as the boasting of a narcissist. To this day Thoreau is one of the most cited American authors, for some he embodies the "real America" ​​and is considered a fundamental thinker for the civil rights movement - for others he is a lazybones, misanthrope and anarchist.

"Walden" is poetic, critical and uncompromising, humorous and, last but not least, a gripping plea for independence and non-conformity. The text was redesigned by Rina Juniku and Johannes Bode as a "romantic lecture performance" for the stage. Thoreau's imprisonment is taken up in the narrative: the viewers find themselves in the courtroom, the charge is already confessed tax evasion and state treason. Walden becomes the defense speech, which in turn leads back to nature.

The film tries to interweave the energy and spontaneity of the live performance with cinematic elements and explores the possibilities of the documentary on two levels (Thoreau's text and the filmed performance are documentary in a certain way) as well as the imaginary (Rina Juniku as character on a Thoreau trip).