Marathon man: the stubborn persistence of Alexander Kluge, German cinema's polymathic master strategist

On the occasion of his 75th birthday in 2008, German filmmaker Alexander Kluge is profiled in detail, and his films are examined in chronological order. The movies discussed are "Abscied von Gestern" ("Yesterday Girl," 1966), "Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: Ratlos" ("Artists Under the Big Top: Perplexed," 1968), "Gelegenheitsarbeit einer Sklavin" ("Part-Time Work of a Domestic Slave," 1973), "Der Starke Ferdinand" ("Strongman Ferdinand," 1976), "Die Patriotin" ("The Patriot," 1979), and "Die Macht der Gefühle" ("The Power of Emotion," 1983). A leader in the German New Wave, he was shaped by the collectivist ethos of the 1960s, and many of his films from the 1970s have a topicality relevant to today.