Epstein's night

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Movie
Original title Epstein's night
Country of production Germany , Austria , Switzerland
original language German
Publishing year 2002
length 95 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Urs Egger
script Jens Urban
production Andreas Bareiß
music Christoph Gracian Schubert
camera Lukas Strebel
cut Hans Funck
occupation

Epstein's Night is a film drama directed by Urs Egger from 2002 . The life stories of three Berlin Jews were filled with Mario Adorf , Bruno Ganz and Günter Lamprecht , among others .

action

Jochen Epstein is released from prison, in which he had spent 15 years for murder. He is determined to emigrate from Germany and leave the past behind him forever. But familiar places, repressed memories and a never-forgotten friend blow up the armor that the old man has built around himself. On three levels, flashbacks reveal the interwoven life stories of three Berlin Jews, a childhood sweetheart and an SS man who managed to slip into the identity of a victim during the liberation of Birkenau.

The key to the story is Epstein's last day free. For the first time the three Jews Jochen Epstein, Karl Rose and Adam Rose celebrate a Christian Christmas. Adam, who was never able to completely overcome the torture in the concentration camp, had the idea and the others pull along for his sake, as is obviously the norm. When Adam Rose and Epstein accompany the daughter of their housekeeper Paula to a Christmas service, the impossible happens: the two concentration camp survivors recognize their former SS tormentor, Hauptsturmführer Giesser, in the community priest. The next morning the three friends together present the supposed clergy. The fronts seem clear, all questions asked a thousand times and answered just as often.

But the meeting tips over several times in surprising ways. Giesser by no means considers himself guilty, turns the tide and in turn puts the three Jews in the pillory. He knows how Epstein protected his friends in the camp. He knows what price the old scrap dealer was willing to pay for the lives of the two Roses. For the first time the Roses learn what Epstein did for them, what sacrifices he made for the lives of the two brothers. The situation escalates when the fate of then little Hannah, Adam Rose's childhood sweetheart, is revealed. Guilt and forgiveness, friendship and betrayal, love and hate determine the conflict between the four men in the church. It ends when the troubled Epstein takes vigilante justice against Giesser.

But the death of the tormentor brings no relief. Hannah's whereabouts remain unexplained and the last hope of ever finding her again has been destroyed. When Epstein was released from prison 15 years later, Karl and Adam Rose had long since died. His own supposed guilt, his ruined existence and being alone had robbed him of all belief in life. Until suddenly the "little" Hannah is standing in front of him again.

criticism

“All the figures remain on the tracks on which they were once placed: their irritations come across as strangely external, although the form of the chamber play would have been well suited for exploring psychological (shallow) depths. Unfortunately, all that remains is the assertion of a great, touching story. And the fact that another German film has tackled the serious issue of the Holocaust. "

- film service 23/2002

The German Film and Media Assessment FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the rating particularly valuable.

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