Getting the picture

This week on CW, our reviewers explore contemporary European cinema in all its splendid bleakness and political intensity, from the relentless realism of Béla Tarr and the high-concept pathos of Roy Andersson, to reflections on recent history in Persepolis and The Baader Meinhof Complex. Samuel Middleton asks what an English radical philosopher finds so engaging about Haitian politics, and Sarah Boyes continues her Cultural Olympiad blog, considering what if anything artistic integrity means today. Meanwhile, we find two very different approaches to ideas and emotions in theatre.