The second track

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Movie
Original title The second track
The second track Logo 001.svg
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1962
length 80 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Hans-Joachim Kunert
script Günter Kunert
Hans-Joachim Kunert
production DEFA , KAG "Berlin"
music Pavel Simai
camera Rolf Sohre
cut Christel Röhl
occupation

The second track is a German DEFA film by Hans-Joachim Kunert from 1962.

action

During the night shift on platform 2, dispatcher Walter Brock surprises two men when they break into a wagon. When confronted, he thinks he recognizes one of the two, but a short time later he pretends to have been mistaken. The suspect Erwin Runge suspects that he knows Brock from before, even if the name doesn't mean anything to him. He instructs his accomplice Frank Reisner, who had remained undiscovered, to research Brock's daughter Vera about the background of the family.

Vera works as a technical draftsman at RAW and directs the company orchestra. Frank introduces himself as the new violinist , but turns out to be unmusical. Frank and Vera get closer and Vera tells him that her family comes from Küstrin . Her mother was killed in the bombing of the small town and Vera was taken to the orphanage there, where her father finally picked her up in 1946. Erwin himself comes from Küstrin and knows that the city has never been bombed. He himself only knew a man similar to Walter Brock under the name "Merkel". Meanwhile, Walter Brock tries to be transferred to Rostock as quickly as possible, which makes his superiors suspicious.

When Vera learns from Frank that Küstrin has never been bombed and that Walter Brock is supposedly "Merkel", she goes on a search for the truth with him. You drive to Arnstadt, where the Küstrin orphanage is said to have been moved. Here she wants to see her file. She was brought to the orphanage as "Vera Merkel" by a certain Gertrud Runge from Arnstadt. Vera and Frank visit Gertrud Runge, who is now working as a teacher and is overjoyed to see Vera again. She tells both the truth:

In 1944, Anneliese Merkel, Vera's mother, came to her grocery store and wanted to exchange groceries for a necklace. When Gertrud hesitated, Anneliese redeemed all the food stamps . A few minutes later Walter surprisingly came home for a day on leave from the front. At the time Gertrud was married to Erwin Runge, who wanted to go looking for an escaped Jew in the evening - with Walter, who refused. When Walter found the Jew in his workshop, however, he betrayed him to Erwin, who shot him. Since Anneliese had hidden the Jews in the workshop for a long time and provided them with food and clothing, she was arrested by the Gestapo and executed in 1944. Gertrud separated from Erwin and took Vera in because Walter had to go back to the front. Because of a hospital stay, Gertrud brought Vera to the home - when she wanted to take her back to himself, Walter had already taken her out of the home and adopted the name "Brock", which covered all traces.

In the evening Frank goes to Erwin and confronts him with his knowledge. He threatens to reveal Erwin's identity. Frank tries to convince Walter, too, to speak openly, especially since Vera already knows all the background information. When Erwin Walter reports a broken rail, Frank is the only night-shift welder on duty to do the repairs. Erwin secretly switches a switch and lets a train run onto the actually blocked track that Frank is working on. Walter sees Erwin's act and tries to warn Frank, who is run over by the train and killed. Vera has found out about the incidents and hurries to the freight yard. Meanwhile, Walter says that Frank was not involved in an accident, but that Erwin's platform was deliberately moved. He wants to testify to Erwin and himself. When Vera appears, she hurries past him to the scene of the accident. She goes on and he follows at some distance that is slowly getting smaller.

production

The film premiered on October 25, 1962 in Berlin's Colosseum and was shown on television on November 13, 1963 on DFF 1 . Criticism reproached him for depicting an outdated social phase and the film was soon forgotten. In 2005, The Second Track was shown as part of the DEFA retrospective Rebels with a cause at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and was also released on DVD in November of the same year.

The film is now considered to be "one of the best that DEFA produced". This is justified on several levels. In terms of content, it is the only film “that does not track down the former Nazis in West Germany, speaks of collective guilt and wants to know from the GDR citizens: What did you do before 1945?” Formally, the second track is demanding, although the image denotes The content reflects: "The theme of 'entanglement' determines the form of the film: a network of tracks and high-voltage lines obstructs the view and the walk of the characters" and creates an "increasingly oppressive atmosphere". Cinematographer Rolf Sohre used expressive motifs, unusual perspectives and hard contrasts that are reminiscent of the expressionist film of the Weimar Republic . The few dialogues in the film also contribute to this impression. The characteristic, experimental harp music - "the steel strings sound hard and unpleasant" - underlines the content and was recorded by Jutta Zopf .

criticism

The contemporary criticism meant that the film did not portray “today's stable socialist conditions” and thus not “do justice to the manifestations of life in our republic”.

The lexicon of international film found: “Psychologically in-depth film, the credible conflict of which is intensely portrayed and which does not offer cheap sham solutions. Formally, too, thanks to the expressive camera design and experimental music, the film soars to great mastery. "

Cinema wrote that “the captivating, shadowy look of the drama […] is reminiscent of the expressionist cinema of the 20s and 30s [reminds]. Conclusion: brilliantly photographed fellow traveler tragedy ”. For other critics, The Second Track was "a remarkable and radical film."

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d The second track on filmmuseum-Potsdam.de ( Memento from February 11, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
  2. ^ Ralf Schenk (Red.), Filmmuseum Potsdam (Hrsg.): The second life of the film city Babelsberg. DEFA feature films 1946–1992 . Henschel, Berlin 1994, p. 173.
  3. ↑ Manfred Jelenski in: Berliner Zeitung , October 23, 1962.
  4. ↑ The second track. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed July 31, 2018 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  5. ↑ The second track. In: Cinema , Hubert Burda Media , accessed on July 31, 2018.
  6. ^ Ralf Schenk (Red.), Filmmuseum Potsdam (Hrsg.): The second life of the film city Babelsberg. DEFA feature films 1946–1992 . Henschel, Berlin 1994, p. 174.