The Time That Remains (1985)

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Movie
Original title The time that remains
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1985
length 115 minutes
Rod
Director Lew Hohmann
script Wolfgang Kohlhaase
production DEFA studio for documentary films (KAG: document), commissioned by the television of the GDR
music Günther Fischer
camera Christian Lehmann
cut Karin Wudtke
occupation

The time that remains with the subtitle A film about Konrad Wolf is a documentary film from DEFA Studio for Documentary Films from 1985. It was made for GDR television and directed by Lew Hohmann .

action

The film begins in Peredelkino , a reunion of Konrad Wolf after decades with the unforgettable world of childhood in his second home, the Soviet Union. The former summer house of the family of the emigrated poet Friedrich Wolf still stands not far from Moscow . His son Konrad, called Koni, the younger of the two brothers, paid another visit there in October 1981, shortly before his death. A large part of the film is made up of images and stories about Konrad Wolf's parents, his childhood in Germany and the escape into emigration via France to the Soviet Union. The visit in October 1981 is also a look back at his childhood, he remembers the friendship between three boys, which had remained important to all three throughout their lives, although they went all over the world on different paths, including in their thinking . The “Troika”, as the group was called, found contact again after decades, although the living conditions had separated the friends. A film about this friendship, which he had planned, was unfortunately not possible due to his death from cancer six months later (a few years later his brother Markus processed the material in his book The Troika ).

Konrad Wolf's work in the Red Army is documented in detail. The first impressions of the war in the village of Karbadinka are quoted, and wonderful, peaceful shots of today's seaside location are added as a conjuring addition. From here the route led him to Premnitz , from which he was city ​​commandant of Bernau near Berlin for one day .

Then we can see how he, after studying at the film school in Moscow , played a key role in the development of socialist film art in the GDR. Scenes from many of his successful works are an example of this. An abundance of statements is obtained, Angel Wagenstein , who was friends with Konrad Wolf and made several films with him, has their say , Kurt Böwe talks about the experiences during the shooting of The Naked Man on the Sports Field , the cameraman Werner Bergmann remembers to the many films they made together and to his original reservations about a "studied" director. The sculptor Wieland Förster remembered how unpretentious and helpful Konrad Wolf was as President of the Academy of Arts of the GDR . The Germanist Wladimir Gall talked about the time they spent together during the Second World War and at the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD) in Halle (Saale) .

Throughout the film, everyone involved stated how honest and loyal Konrad Wolf was in all matters of life.

production

The script was written with the help of Lew Hohmann , Christiane Mückenberger and Regine Sylvester . The version that was finally published is an abridged version in which the problems of Stalinism were essentially excluded. At the instigation of the government of the GDR were u. a. the passages on the Stalinist trials and the non-aggression pact Germany - Soviet Union and their impact on the three friends cut from the film that has already been made.

The time that remains was shot on ORWO color and completed using black and white documents. The film premiered on October 20, 1985 on the occasion of Konrad Wolf's 60th birthday in the first program of GDR television . The film was shown publicly in a cinema for the first time on November 23, 1985 at the Leipzig International Documentary and Short Film Week for Cinema and TV . The regular cinema release took place on August 13, 1986 in the Berlin studio cinema Camera .

criticism

Günter Sobe writes in the Berliner Zeitung that the film is journalistically clean and dramaturgically intelligently processed, has a sympathetic serenity, occasionally spreads irony in the undertone over the commentary and sometimes shows a hint of pathos as well as beautiful silence.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ralf Schenk in the Berliner Zeitung on May 20. 2020
  2. ^ New Germany of August 13, 1986; P. 8
  3. ^ Günter Sobe in the Berliner Zeitung of October 22, 1985; P. 7