"Alexander Kluge's films comprise some of the most thought-provoking, original works to come out of the New German Cinema. He is noted for his use of complex narrative structure, innovatively combining disparate elements. In his newest film, Kluge continues his fascination with history, culture and cinema as he examines the close of the twentieth century. Opening with a production of Verdi's Tosca, he sets up a contrast between the treatment of moral and aesthetic issues in the nineteenth century, and their examination in the cinema. Several stories-with characters who are mainly nameless, such as 'The big boss, a man in a hurry,' 'Homeworker,' 'Superfluous employee'-are juxtaposed, creating a filmic essay, a montage of ideas and reflections on a present which affects our perceptions of both the past and the future. (The German title translates as The Assault of the Present Upon the Rest of Time.) At the center, serving perhaps as a metaphor both for his film and for cinema, is the story of a director who goes blind while working on his latest film. He continues working, his head full of images, trying to create what he cannot see." Kathy Geritz