In the shadow of power
In the Shadow of Power is a two-part film produced on behalf of ARD , which shows the last 14 days before the resignation of Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt in a partially fictional version. The NDR production by director Oliver Storz was first broadcast on ARD on October 29 and 30, 2003.
historicity
The director himself attaches great importance to not having shot a documentary or a docudrama . Although he had interviews with the political actors of the Guillaume affair and had historical advice, his primary concern was to produce an exciting feature film.
action
Note: The following description refers to the plot of the film. This is partly fictional. In this respect, the representation does not correspond in all respects to known historical facts.
Part 1
As Federal Chancellor, Willy Brandt is in the spring of 1974 on a special train on an election campaign trip to northern Germany. He is accompanied by journalists, bodyguards and his party speakers Günter Guillaume , who is at this time for a year now suspected of a GDR - spy to be. Guillaume is portrayed as a kind of “girl for everything” who takes care of everyone and especially Brandt's personal concerns.
Brandt knows about the suspicion against Guillaume, but has followed the advice of the President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution , Günther Nollau , and the politically responsible Federal Minister of the Interior , Hans-Dietrich Genscher , to keep Guillaume in his position until sufficient evidence has been collected . Brandt does not change the suspect's responsibilities and acts innocently. This is not difficult for Brandt, since he did not take the suspicion against Guillaume seriously from the start and over time has repressed it.
Brandt himself is shown in bad shape. In terms of foreign policy , he is at the height of his international reputation, but there is already a noticeable crisis within his cabinet.
The investigations have dragged on for a long time with no usable result, which is why Hans-Dietrich Genscher is getting more and more nervous. He puts Nollau under pressure to finally convict Guillaume or to stop the investigation.
Like Genscher, Nollau fears for his own career and, despite the lack of evidence, hands the case over to the Attorney General . This immediately issues a search warrant . Guillaume returns to Bonn from his vacation in southern France , although his observation has not gone unnoticed . At this moment, the Federal Public Prosecutor allows the Federal Criminal Police Office to act. When he was arrested, Guillaume said: “I am a citizen of the GDR and your officer, respect that!” And thereby immediately reveals himself against any rule. His wife Christel is arrested with him. Guillaume asked to speak to the Chancellor. Since this is denied him, he remains silent from now on.
In the course of the investigation, security officers from the escort unit are now also being questioned. In the process, questions are asked - which are quite incriminating for the Chancellor: “On what occasions was Guillaume there? For example when the Chancellor received visitors in hotels or on a special train, had background discussions, especially with journalists? What of this did Guillaume notice and supposedly reported to East Berlin? ”The answers make it clear that Guillaume is said to have“ brought women ”to the Chancellor.
The head of the Federal Criminal Police Office, Herold , informs the Minister of the Interior, then also the President of the Protection of the Constitution, Nollau. He hastily seeks a conversation with his friend and mentor Wehner and, excitedly, describes what he sees as the dramatic situation. The GDR could embarrass the federal government "to the bone" with these sex stories, the Federal Chancellor was now open to blackmail. In Nollau's opinion, Brandt must resign before the scandal breaks out. Herbert Wehner does not oppose this and remains silent. Tomorrow he will meet the Chancellor.
Part 2
The Chancellor has now been informed about what he says is “a web of flourishing imagination and half-truths”. He fluctuates between feeling low, depressed and even suicidal on the one hand and optimism, perseverance and the will to fight on the other. He is considering moving to the attack with a cabinet reshuffle. Genscher, who is definitely responsible as Interior Minister, will hardly leave voluntarily. The alliance with the FDP does not allow Genscher's dismissal, as he is the designated successor to Walter Scheel , who is to be elected Federal President shortly.
The film shows signs that indicate that details of the amorous affairs have already been leaked to the opposition and the tabloids. On the sidelines of the conference between SPD and trade union officials in Bad Münstereifel , Wehner and Brandt had a one-to-one conversation on the evening of May 4th. Wehner asks Brandt - with a certain ultimate pressure - to make his own decision within 24 hours. Brandt leaves the conversation, which ends in an icy silence, with the impression that Wehner and the parliamentary group will not support him in the way that would be necessary to get through the affair. Brandt decides to resign that night. When he communicated his decision to the top SPD officials the next morning, Schmidt lost control; so he does not want to become chancellor Brandt registers that Wehner is silent during these conversations.
Brandt is still hesitant to initiate the resignation letter to Federal President Heinemann , which was written on the evening of May 5th . Brandt's hesitation is portrayed as stressful and nerve- wracking for everyone involved in and outside the Chancellery . During this time Genscher also appears in the anteroom, but does not speak to the Chancellor and leaves. Finally, Bahr , who is closest to Brandt politically and personally , advises the Chancellor to resign while he is still in control of the proceedings. Brandt would no longer survive a new edition of the campaign with accusations and defamations, as experienced in 1961 and 1965. But if he now resigns himself in dignity, no one can prevent Brandt from becoming the leading figure of European social democracy. This makes Bahr the ultimate trigger for the resignation in the film. On the evening of May 6th, Brandt finally sent his head of office Grabert to Heinemann with the letter of resignation. He has a farewell drink with his closest confidante. When leaving the Chancellery, his chief bodyguard asks for forgiveness in tears. He was forced to make statements about Brandt's private life.
After the first reports of the resignation ran on the ticker, a torchlight procession of a hundred young people moved to the Chancellor's pavilion on the Venusberg that night. Brandt does not show himself to them.
Awards
The two-parter was not a great success with the public, but it won several awards:
-
German Television Award 2004 :
- German television award to Jürgen Hentsch for best actor in a supporting role
- Nomination by Hans Grimmelmann in the category Best Cinematography
- Nomination of Eduard Krajewski (production designer) and Wiebke Kratz (costume designer) in the category and best outfit / costume
-
Golden Camera 2004 :
- Golden camera to Michael Mendl as best German actor
- Nomination in the category Best German TV Film
Reviews
- Lexicon of international film : “Documentary television play about one of the biggest federal German political scandals, which conveys historical contexts in an epic breadth, brings up career ideas of those involved and also addresses inner-party animosities. Impressively photographed, the film allows a glimpse behind the scenes of power, emancipating itself from the frequently asked question of whether Brandt could withstand reality. Its quality is its thoughtfulness, its conscious smoke and fog-making, which embeds the figures in a field of possibilities and motifs without destroying them through omniscience. On the surface, the film looks like it has been cast from one piece, but its (constructive) turmoil becomes evident when you think about it. "
- FAZ : “'In the shadow of power' is the name of the excellent film by Oliver Storz, (...) which is almost exclusively devoted to the two weeks before the fall of the Chancellor. (...) Matthias Brandt, the son of Willy Brandt, plays the chancellor secretary and GDR spy Günter Guillaume. "
- Badisches Tagblatt from October 18, 2003: “Director Storz stages the political scandal as a dark drama, many scenes take place at night, it rains frequently. Some of the imposing and completely impersonal offices and conference rooms, in which the characters who are more and more battered by the course of events, usually act, are permeated with an oppressive coldness of power. The film lives above all from the skills of its actors - including Barbara Rudnik as Brandt's wife Rut and Ulrich Mühe as his confidante Günther Gaus. "
- The television supplement of the star finds that “the dialogues in the film correspond to the language that is spoken in these offices, even when the official world is upside down. (...) Such a connection between trifles and great drama makes 'In the Shadow of Power' a political study of sometimes timeless quality. "
Quotes
- When asked if Egon Bahr was exactly like that: “No, it can't. There are too many truths. And there what is accessible has been gathered. Well, I'll give you an example. There was a decisive discussion between Brandt and Wehner. And they were alone and there is no record of it. In the film, all the arguments that one could have between Brandt and Wehner are put into their mouths. That is dramaturgically excellent, but it wasn't the whole reality because nobody was there. "
- Matthias Brandt, who plays the role of Guillaume in the film as Willy Brandt's actual son, in an interview: “It was primarily important to me not to judge the character. Starting from the hypothesis that Guillaume lived in two loyalties, one must of course not bring in any coloring. You just have to try to authentically draw someone with such a double life in both of these lives. I was interested in this psychological phenomenon. (...) There are credible reports that he collapsed in prison when he learned of Brandt's resignation. Guillaume also wrote letters to Brandt's employees from prison: You have to sit down again, he has to explain everything. So it is only logical to show this figure in the role of the victim. "
- Info text from the producing NDR: “Storz attaches importance to the fact that 'In the Shadow of Power' is by no means a docu-drama. In the run-up to the event, he conducted interviews with the Brandt family, spoke to all the top politicians involved and sought advice from experts on the political scene such as the journalist Hermann Schreiber. Nevertheless, it is primarily about making an exciting feature film. During the filming he is balancing on a tightrope: between assumptions, facts and his own scenic creative power. "
Curiosities
The endeavor to shoot in publicly accessible and often known original locations leads to some anachronisms , as many locations have undergone some changes in the past thirty years. The station sign of the Göttingen train station that can be seen in the first part has a font design that was not yet used in the 1970s. The film also shows the island of Helgoland as a modernized health resort and not the makeshift arrangements from 1974. In particular, the eye-catching street lighting on the health resort promenade only became typical for northern German seaside resorts from around 1990 onwards.
See also
Web links
- In the shadow of power in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Film review on stern.de
- The son of the chancellor plays the chancellor traitor Die Welt , October 8, 2003
Individual evidence
- ↑ See the info text of the producing NDR archive link ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ FAZ : Faz Feuilleton - Quota review for "In the shadow of power"
- ↑ In the shadow of power. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed August 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Bahr in the ARD morning magazine on October 24, 2003 ( Memento from January 29, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Interview with Brandt's son Mathias on NDR-online ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
