The west shines!

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Movie
Original title The west shines!
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1982
length 103 minutes
Age rating FSK 18
Rod
Director Niklaus Schilling
script Niklaus Schilling
production Elke Haltaufderheide
music Michael Rüggeberg
camera Wolfgang Dickmann
cut Niklaus Schilling
occupation

The west shines! is a German feature film from 1982.

action

"Karl" is a spy . He works for the Ministry for State Security of the GDR. His new job is to clarify a source of information with the code name "Heinz". He is suspected of being a double spy . As Harald Liebe, endowed with a new identity, "Karl" travels to Germany. The first meeting in Munich is already going differently than planned. The informant "Heinz" is namely a woman. Dagmar Ostfeld is the widow of an industrialist from the arms industry. Under mysterious circumstances, the head of the MMU development department had a fatal crash with the company jet. Dagmar Ostfeld is firmly convinced that her husband has become a victim of the West German secret service. Although she thinks little of the interests of the GDR, she accepts the State Security Service's offer to cooperate. Because now she can retaliate in a very powerful way. The chief secretary, who continues to work at the MMU, regularly checks secret documents. It has almost become routine that she also regularly sends copies of it to East Berlin via conspiratorial channels .

But with Harald Liebe, a completely different partner unexpectedly appears. The strictly professional mutual distrust is increasingly disappearing. And soon they can no longer resist mutual attraction. Dagmar Ostfeld is very attractive. And she can afford to live her life against the luxurious backdrop of a lavish western consumer world. Together with her daughter Ina, she not only lives in a stylish villa, both seem to be the ideal cast in a production that deals with the fall of capitalism . In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, the scout from the east gets deeper and deeper into an almost labyrinthine ambush. As if blinded, he more and more loses sight of his actual mission. The secret services are alerted.

Reviews

“The West Glows!” Is a film about the suggestion of false light and false colors. For the man from the East, the incredible red of an Italian sports car (Alfa Romeo) and the strong green of a French champagne bottle (Dom Perignon) prove to be at least as confusing as the tendril of his profession. He is dragged into a commercial ... So in the end you don't know where the advertising ends and the passion begins. The colorful playing surface shows tiny cracks. You have to look carefully. At Schilling it is worth taking a second look. With this film, its best so far, certainly a third one. "

- The time

The story of an agent of the State Security Service of the GDR, who is blinded by external glamor and luxury during an assignment in the seductive West and only sees through the real life context at the last moment. Unobtrusively and quietly, the film depicts this affluent society; Behind the surface of the "smooth" story, complex relationships of an everyday life restricted by signs and symbols are revealed. "

- Lexicon of International Film :

Awards

The film premiered as a competition entry to the Montreal World Film Festival in 1982. Cinematographer Wolfgang Dickmann received the German Film Prize 1982 in silver.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Hans-Christoph Blumenberg in DIE ZEIT of October 1, 1982
  2. The west shines! In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used