Let me be a dove

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Movie
German title Let me be a dove
Original title Volio bih da sam golub
Country of production GDR
Yugoslavia
original language German
Publishing year 1990
length 101 minutes
Rod
Director Miomir Stamenković
script Wolfgang hero
Veroslav Rancic
production DEFA , KAG “Babelsberg”
Sutjeska Film, Sarajevo
music Peter Rabenalt
camera Danijel Sukalo
cut Jelena Djokic
occupation

Let me but a dove be (Yugoslavian title: Волио бих да сам голуб, Volio bih da sam golub) is a German-Yugoslav feature film of the DEFA and Sutjeska film , Sarajevo by Miomir Stamenković from 1990 based on the novel by Wolfgang Held from the year 1986, based on authentic events.

action

In August 1943 a partisan unit was formed in Slovenia from members of the German minority and defectors from the Wehrmacht . With this foundation and the swearing in of the fighters, the film begins. The group, which will be named Ernst Thälmann , will be given the task of making propaganda for the people's liberation struggle and recruiting new members.

At the same time, the textile merchant Hans Sulka , of German descent, was driving his horse-drawn vehicle across a river on a ferry . This is shot at from a nearby forest in order to free a fighter of the resistance movement. Hans loads a wounded German soldier, two others do not survive the attack, onto his car and delivers him to a unit of the Waffen SS in the next town . Because of this liberation action, SS-Obersturmbannführer Schnitzinger had the inhabitants of a village rounded up and covered with straw as a punishment. The SS man who is supposed to set the people on fire refuses and is therefore shot by Schnitzinger, but the next one carries out the order. Shortly afterwards, Hans Sulka, who drove past in a carriage with his daughter Anna and her son Boris, only saw the burned corpses.

Marias Blanusa's friend, who deserted from the Eastern Front as a Wehrmacht soldier, is looking for a way to join the partisans and receives advice from her friend Lajzika to contact her uncle Hans Sulka. When she wants to speak to him, Anna is on her way to become a member of the partisans. The next day, an SS Oberscharführer drives his motorcycle in front of Hans Sulka's shop and is greeted by Boris happily, because it is his uncle Josef. When Hans asks if he has heard of the punitive action, he does not say that he was there himself. However, he learns from Boris that his sister has gone to the fighters in the forest. However, Josef's greatest concern is that he will get into trouble with his superior if he finds out. Anna has arrived with the partisans, is employed as a medic and is happy to be back with her lover Milan Folk, who is the group's commander.

When Hans Sulka picks up the pass required for his trips to the markets from the SS, he only gets it for the promise to tell the SS where the partisans' quarters are. If he does not find out, his son Josef will be transferred to the Eastern Front. First he uses the pass to bring Maria's deserted friend to the fighters in the forest, taking his grandson with him, who can then see his mother again. The deserter is greeted with suspicion by some people and Hans leaves a large part of his fabrics for sewing uniforms before he goes back again. On this trip he explains to Boris that he doesn't want to decide against one of his children, so he'd rather be a pigeon than a hawk. Back home, he even contemplates killing himself for a moment.

A folk festival with market stalls and hype takes place in one village . Hans Sulka is also there with his stand and has brought his grandson with him again. The partisan unit uses the opportunity to call on the residents of the village to fight the German fascists , which not all residents like. Hans is already packing up his goods while Anna is still talking to him and Boris is doing his laps with the carousel. In the midst of this happy hustle and bustle and the agitational speech of the farmer Lukas Mattheis, bullets from the grenade launchers of the SS unit hit the fairground. Since the partisans are not allowed to intervene in the fighting, they retreat into the forest. While the German soldiers together with the Ustasha march into the village, to Hans and Boris hide the car and have to see how the horse is hit and dies. When Hans leaves his cover to check on the horse, he is arrested. Josef receives the order from his Untersturmführer to vacate a house, arrest the residents and set it on fire. When he has finished this job, he discovers his sister in the adjacent barn, but she does not want to go with him. The Slovenian prisoners are shot immediately and the German partisan sympathizers are due to follow suit the next day.

The partisans are aware that their action must have been betrayed in the village, as no one except their own people knew about it. But slowly the suspicion arises that Hans Sulka might have something to do with it. Although the partisans are not allowed to take part in combat operations, they unanimously decide to free the prisoners who have not yet been shot, which is also possible with greater losses. The superordinate superior of the partisans, who arrived after the liberation operation, gave the order that the group should retreat further into the forest, since another attack is to be expected, because the traitor has not yet been found. Before that, Hans Sulka was given the task of procuring and delivering several more drugs so that the injured could be treated properly, because he was the only one who was able to do so. Anna brings the list to Lajzika, where she meets her father, who credibly denies having told the SS about the planned deployment in the village.

Back home, Hans Sulka was taken by two armed SS men to Obersturmbannführer Schnitzinger, who withdrew his pass, as he could not be seen to have worked and he even provided the partisans with the material for the uniforms. Josef receives the order to march to the Eastern Front, but he declares that he is ready to do everything to ensure that the partisans can be destroyed. He can convince his father with a ruse to go into the forest to warn Anna of a planned punitive expedition, which is why he got him another pass and a new horse. Hans packs the medication and drives off without realizing that Josef is following him on the motorcycle. SS soldiers with cannons follow him well behind . When Hans turns off at a forest path, Josef is waiting for the following SS unit to show them the right way.

The partisans discover that they are being surrounded and send a fighter to get reinforcements. But that falls into the hands of the Germans. Hans agrees to drive the seriously wounded to a nearby church with his cart and Boris to protect them. In his defense, he received a rifle from the commander, which he initially refused to accept. At the same time, Joseph agrees to take up an observation post in the church. When he arrives there, the seriously wounded are already there. When he spots her, he shoots her with the submachine gun. Hans Sulka observes the process and realizes that his son only helped him to find the partisans. For him, who always rejected all violence, there is only the possibility of shooting Josef. The defending partisans are destroyed with cannon shots.

production

Let me be a dove was filmed by DEFA -Studio for feature films (Artistic Working Group “Babelsberg”) and Sutjeska Film, Sarajevo ( Yugoslavia ) on ORWO color and had its festive premiere on February 22nd, 1990 at the Berlin Kino International .

The scenario comes from Wolfgang Held and Dieter Wolf was responsible for the dramaturgy .

criticism

The Lexicon of International Films writes that this film, shot based on authentic events, is artistically unsatisfactory.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Let me be a dove. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 22, 2019 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used