Howard Brookner follows Wilson trying to assemble a twelve-hour, six-country opera for the 1984 Olympics—and watches schedules, budgets and exhaustion defeat the vision. It is both an avant-garde portrait and an unusually good project-failure documentary. Watch before deciding on BAM’s Einstein: it will make the achieved collaboration look less inevitable, which is usually the more interesting way to see art. Film and current US availability, restoration context
QUEUE — Robert Wilson and the Civil Wars (1985), Criterion Channel US subscription, 94 minutes.
Howard Brookner documents the logistics and exhaustion behind Robert Wilson’s unrealized multinational opera.
2 sources · 1 min read
Link to noteOriginally published 9 September 2026. Reporting, forecasts, prices, odds and event availability reflect the original edition.
Sources & further reading
- Film and current US availability criterionchannel.com
- restoration context filmlinc.org