In the labyrinth of silence

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Movie
Original title In the labyrinth of silence
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 2014
length 123 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
JMK 12
Rod
Director Giulio Ricciarelli
script Elisabeth Bartel
Giulio Ricciarelli
production Jakob Claussen
Sabine Lamby
Ulrike Putz
music Sebastian Pill
Niki Reiser
camera Roman Osin
Martin Langer
cut Andrea Mertens
occupation

In the Labyrinth of Silence is a German film drama from 2014 that thematizes the prehistory of the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2014. It opened in German cinemas on November 6, 2014. Im Labyrinth des Schweigens was named as a German candidate for an Oscar nomination in the category Best Foreign Language Film in August 2015 . As a result, the film was included in the shortlist of nine films in December 2015, but was ultimately not nominated.

action

At the end of the 1950s, at the time of the German economic miracle , the events of World War II are slowly being forgotten.

When the journalist Thomas Gnielka wanted to report a former prison guard at the Auschwitz extermination camp in the Frankfurt am Main court , whom his friend Simon Kirsch saw as a teacher in a schoolyard, this met with widespread rejection. However, the young public prosecutor Johann Radmann deals with the case and begins the investigation with the support of the public prosecutor Fritz Bauer .

Radmann is looking for perpetrators and witnesses who can testify to the crimes in the concentration camp. In the painter Kirsch's apartment, Radmann and Gnielka find a list of SS men who killed prisoners in the concentration camp. He and his employees can find the listed perpetrators in telephone books throughout Germany. He can get hold of further documents at the American Document Center in Frankfurt.

Despite persistent resistance from the authorities, Radmann was able to arrest the first perpetrators, including the adjutant of camp commandant Rudolf Höß named Robert Mulka and the last camp commandant of Auschwitz, Richard Baer . His efforts to arrest the SS doctor Josef Mengele , however, fail.

The difficulties that Radmann encounters in his investigations are on his nerves; he begins to drink. The relationship with his girlfriend Marlene fails. He argues with his mother about his father's role during the Nazi era. He falls out with his colleague Gnielka and resigns from his position. However, when he is supposed to work in his new position with the lawyer, who had previously cynically approved of the selection at the ramp when a client was interrogated by Radmann, he returned to the public prosecutor's office.

His efforts have paid off: the first Auschwitz trial begins in 1963 . To start with, Fritz Bauer tells his public prosecutors: “Today, history is being written”.

background

The character of Johann Radmann is fictional and based on the three public prosecutors who prepared the indictment for the trial: Joachim Kügler , Georg Friedrich Vogel and Gerhard Wiese . Wiese's memories of the process flowed into the script.

Wiese was invited to the German premiere of the film and received a standing ovation from the audience.

reception

The film premiered under the international title Labyrinth of Lies at the Toronto International Film Festival 2014, where it received mostly positive reviews.

“And so, Im Labyrinth des Schweigens , which with its production values ​​convincingly reconstructs the atmosphere of the 1950s, becomes a vehement plea that Auschwitz, like the National Socialist past in general, should never be relativized, even if seven decades have passed since the liberation of the camps and most of the perpetrators and victims have long since died. "

- epd film

“In the figure drawing, although somewhat schematic, the film certainly succeeds in making a reflective attempt to open a still largely untapped chapter in German history using the means of suspense cinema. Worth seeing from 14. "

- Film service

Awards

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Release certificate for In the Labyrinth of Silence . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry, September 2014 (PDF; test number: 146 809 K).
  2. ↑ Age rating for In the labyrinth of silence . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ↑ Germany sends the Labyrinth of Silence into the Oscar race , Spiegel Online , August 27, 2015.
  4. ^ Gregg Kilday: Oscars: Nine Titles Advance in Foreign Language Category. The Hollywood Reporter , December 17, 2015, accessed January 16, 2016 .
  5. ↑ “Auschwitz? I knew precious little ” at welt.de, accessed on February 24, 2015
  6. ↑ Many movie heroes and one real hero at faz.net, accessed on February 24, 2015
  7. ↑ Labyrinth Of Lies at sheldonkirshner.com, accessed September 9, 2014
  8. ↑ TIFF Review: 'Labyrinth of Lies' at margsmeanderings.wordpress.com, accessed September 9, 2014
  9. ↑ TIFF 2014: Labyrinth Of Lies review at heyuguys.com, accessed on September 9, 2014
  10. ↑ Rudolf Worschech: Critique of Im Labyrinth des Schweigens. epd film, accessed October 30, 2014 .
  11. ↑ Film-dienst 23/2014, page 39