World on a Wire (1973) 2-Disc Limited Edition Review
Originally created for TV by the radical and controversial filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder, World on a Wire centres around Simulacron 1, a highly advanced project designed to elevate conventional computer technology to a new level by creating a virtual reality, inhabited by computer generated people or ‘identity units’. When the head of the project dies mysteriously, Dr Stiller (Klaus Löwitsch – Firefox, Cross of Iron) becomes his successor. As the new doctor begins to probe deeper, the line between the real and virtual world becomes increasingly blurred and his own existence comes into question.
I was very keen to see this release from Second Sight, firstly because they always package an enticing title with an abundance of solid extras and secondly because I am a fan of the film work of Rainer Werner Fassbinder. World on a Wire is his only foray into the realms of science-fiction. It is also, for my money, the least satisfying of his work. Internationally the director was better known for his films and this TV series went unseen in the rest of the world, outside of Germany, for many years.
In researching the title prior to this review I discovered that World on a Wire is considered something of a frontrunner in terms of the themes it addresses within its Chinese box-like structure of realities within realities. That is about it in terms of its worth and I have never really been a fan either of the films that came later covering the same ground such as The Matrix, eXistenZ and The Thirteen Floor (1999, a big screen remake of World on a Wire starring Vincent D’Onofrio) – all of them are okay but they are very much of their time and that can be said too of this.
There’s an interesting idea at World at a Wire’s core but it fails to be interesting in its execution. I grew tired of mirrors everywhere in the set design – the metaphor grew thin – and there’s an awful lot of talking as the plot flicks between realities. It’s not very gripping and this came as a big disappointment for a fan of the director and of cult science-fiction – one for Fassbinder completists only.