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Gottfried Helnwein & The Dreaming Child

“Gottfried Helnwein And The Dreaming Child” is a feature documentary about a world famous Austrian artist, Gottfried Helnwein, and his challenge designing the sets and costumes for a never before seen opera in Tel Aviv, Israel in 2010.  This violent and often bloody opera, THE CHILD DREAMS, was written by Israel’s most famous playwright, Hanoch Levin, who passed away in 1999. This opera portrays the hopes and dreams of innocent children in search of freedom and peace.  For artist Helnwein, the child has always been the symbol of innocence and innocence betrayed.  The conflict Helnwein encounters in Israel surrounds his unyielding desire to maintain the original idea of Levin’s work.  Levin specifically states in his libretto that the opera requires a small child who would portray the dreaming child through out the opera. However, the Israeli Opera’s creative team have a different idea about using a child. The director of the opera wishes to use a mature woman to play the child and hence the difficulties and the ultimate conflict.  Does Gottfried get his way as he attempts to maintain the artistic idea of what Levin had in mind?  Gottfried fights for the child on the stage just like he does in his enormous, realistic paintings.  Images of children burned so deep into your mind that you can never forget.  Gottfried’s work on this opera is much the same as his paintings which are beautiful yet often difficult to look at.  Even in the fourth act of the opera…it’s beautiful and controversial  but you cannot take your eyes away.  In the film Helnwein says, “if we don’t have images that provoke from time to time, everything would get more solid … everything would freeze”.