Kino - german films

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Film poster “Good Bye, Lenin!” Scenes from ”The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum“ & “War at a Distance” The recent blockbuster Good Bye, Lenin! (2003, Wolfgang Becker) now questions the media images of the reunification in a new way. In order to spare his bedridden mother, Alex simply permits the GDR to survive, at least on a small scale. Everything – from East German pickles to news bulletins – is ”reproduced“, after all, images themselves are only produced and are thus open to a second, quite different interpretation. All at once, the reunification also appears in a new light. HISTORICIZING THE RED ARMY FACTION: RAF GOES POP The 20th anniversary of the Deutscher Herbst in 1997 and the official disbanding of the Red Army Faction in 1998 led to tremendous attention being focused on German terrorism in media discourse. Witnesses to the times of the Bleierne Zeit, filmmakers of New German Film like Fassbinder, Kluge, Schloenndorff or von Trotta realized a series of films – as well as their joint film Germany in Autumn (Deutschland im Herbst, 1977) – such as The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum, 1975, Volker Schloendorff and Margarethe von Trotta), Knife in the Head (Messer im Kopf, 1978, Reinhard Hauff), The Third Generation (Die dritte Generation, 1979, Rainer Werner Fassbinder), or Marianne and Juliane (Die Bleierne Zeit, 1981, M. von Trotta). These films may be understood as political statements on the radicalization of the times and its significance for Federal German reality. Especially in the films of the 70s, there was reference to the return of a suppressed German history without which the force of the conflicts between the state and its opponents could not be explained – or so it seemed to contemporary observers. The series of recent films investigating political radicalism began with The Legends of Rita (Die Stille nach dem Schuss, 1999, Schloendorff), the story of a west German female terrorist who goes underground, taking on a new identity in the GDR during the seventies. After German reunification, she loses her security. Schloendorff draws the protagonist as a victim of the circumstances – in both parts of Germany. The question of political motives gives way to his interest in a biography which – in this constellation – could only have been conceivable in a divided Germany. A second fictive post-terrorism drama entered the cinemas with The State I Am In (Die Innere Sicherheit, 2000, Christian Petzold). In dense pictorial language, it tells the story of a couple who have lived in the underground for 20 years and of their daughter, who wants to escape this life in hiding. In its specific narrative form, the film considers questions of guilt and attrition less than it does the consequences of a decision made long ago, and of a society that does not permit dialogue of any kind. Besides this, Petzold thematizes the continuing effects of the past, narrating historical events in passing. Only a few suggestions compel us to kino 4 focus on politics in german film 2003 8
econstruct the reasons, contexts and the past of the ex-terrorists for ourselves, and perhaps even to ask whether they could still have any significance for the present (Lettenwitsch/Mang 2002). Black Box BRD (2001, Andres Veiel) was the first documentary film on the theme of German political terrorism to enjoy a successful response in the cinemas and to trigger discussion. Veiel (cf. p. 13) compares and contrasts two biographies: Wolfgang Grams, a member of the RAF, and Alfred Herrhausen, the manager of the powerful Deutsche Bank. As a result of a change in perspective towards biographical narrative, the apparently immutable opposition between the two protagonists does not seem quite so immutable. The outcome is a moment of uncertainty that can be productive, yet first and foremost, it levels out political positions. It seems that in the present Berlin Republic political conflict has largely forfeited its claims to definition. Two other productions joined the trend towards portraying individual destinies: Starbuck: Holger Meins (2001, Gerd Conradt), also a documentary portrait, and Baader (2002, kino 4 focus on politics in german film 2003 9 Scene from ”Germany in Autumn“ Scene from ”The State I Am In“
Page 1 and 2: Scene from "Schultze gets the Blues
Page 3 and 4: 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45
Page 5 and 6: Scene from ”Yesterday Girl“ A P
Page 7: Film poster ”The German Chainsaw
Page 11 and 12: A VIEW FURTHER AFIELD Wider politic
Page 13 and 14: USA, earlier than in her home count
Page 15 and 16: Film und Video Untertitelung Gerhar
Page 17 and 18: the top on a giant Ferris wheel and
Page 19 and 20: company and perhaps directing. I th
Page 21 and 22: The 2003 Arthouse Trade Show team m
Page 23 and 24: F. Sauter (BMW Australia), N. Kaufm
Page 25 and 26: IN PRODUCTION Aus der Tiefe des Rau
Page 27 and 28: En Garde Original Title En Garde (w
Page 29 and 30: Kammerflimmern Hendrik Hoelzemann (
Page 31 and 32: Sieben Zwerge - Maenner allein im W
Page 33 and 34: Die Drei von der Tankstelle THREE F
Page 35 and 36: Der Himmel ueber Berlin WINGS OF DE
Page 37 and 38: The Dark Side of Our Inner Space Fi
Page 39 and 40: Scene from ”Vote for Henryk!“ (
Page 41 and 42: Im Schatten der Macht IN THE SHADOW
Page 43 and 44: Milchwald THIS VERY MOMENT Sylvia p
Page 45 and 46: Paraiso At first you might BELIEVE
Page 47 and 48: Santa Smokes It’s Christmas in Ne
Page 49 and 50: Verschwende Deine Jugend PLAY IT LO
Page 51 and 52: ASSOCIATION OF GERMAN FILM EXPORTER
Page 53: FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES Argentina D

Kino - german films

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?