In the middle of the storm

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title In the middle of the storm
Original title Within the Whirlwind
Country of production Germany , Belgium , France , Poland
Publishing year 2009
length 110 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Marleen Gorris
script Nancy Larson
production Christine Ruppert
music Włodzimierz Pawlik
camera Arkadiusz Tomiak
cut Ewin Ryckaert
occupation

Mitten im Sturm (Original title: Within the Whirlwind ) is an internationally produced film biography from 2009, which was only released in Germany on May 5, 2011 . The film adaptation of the literature is based on the autobiography of the Soviet journalist , publicist and university professor Yevgenia Semyonovna Ginsburg , who was sentenced to ten years of forced labor in a Siberian labor camp in the course of the Great Purge for (alleged) anti-Soviet agitation.

action

Eugenia Ginzburg is a professor of literature and teaches at the University of Kazan . In 1934, the staunch communist witnessed how friends, acquaintances and work colleagues were arrested for political reasons and usually executed after a short trial. Since she always upright follows the party line and stands up for the good, it is incomprehensible to her what is actually being accused of these fellow men. However, this also puts them in distress, since they indirectly criticize the party and state leadership (albeit justified). The result is initially a professional ban in order to take away her influence on the younger generation. The combative woman does not accept this and goes to Moscow to complain and explain to Professor Siderov. Here, however, it is accused not only of a lack of political vigilance, but also of collaboration and conspiracy with the enemies of the people. She has to hand in her party ID and expect to be arrested. This happened as soon as she was back in Kazan , and so in 1937 she was sentenced to ten years of forced labor in a Siberian labor camp for (alleged) anti-Soviet agitation . For the time being, Eugenia is satisfied that she has not been punished with death, but her fighting spirit has died. It has recognized that Stalin aims to eliminate the most capable heads of the leadership of the party in order to then rule dictatorially alone. She and other convicted women have to travel to the labor camp in Siberia in a freight car by train. After a long journey, we walk to the camp. On the way Eugenia learns that her husband (city councilor of Kazan) has also been arrested.

When they arrive at the camp, all women are examined by the German camp doctor Anton Walter, who assesses their ability to work and enables weak women to take a recovery break. In the mass accommodation it is usually rough, as not only political prisoners but also serious criminals and thieves are housed here. Eugenia manages to bring some calm into the group and in the evening tells them stories from the many books she has read. That also distracts Eugenia a little from the tough camp life. One day she received a letter from her mother from which she learned that her husband had hanged himself in custody and that her eldest son had also perished. Her youngest, Vasya, would live with her sister-in-law. Because of this terrible news, she wants to die and lies down in front of the accommodation at night. There they find the guards and take them to the infirmary. Here she experiences the warmth of Anton Walter, who gives her cod liver oil when she has to go back to the accommodation. She shares this with her fellow prisoners. In the few days they were away, however, two of them died and a third was deliberately shot by the guards. The attempt to prevent her from doing her job brings Eugenia back to the sick bed. Anton Walter takes care of her and gives her a book, but that doesn't change Eugenia's negative attitude towards the German. In the hospital she meets Beylin from Kazan, who is dying here and is responsible for the fact that she was exiled. It gives her a little satisfaction that Beylin ended up here for his betrayal as well.

Anton Walter values ​​the educated Eugenia, who has kept her pride after all those years in the camp. He has her transferred to the hospital as his assistant, which saves her the hard work in the forest and allows her to devote herself even more to the people in the camp. Eugenia changes her negative attitude towards the doctor when she learns that he, too, is “only” a prisoner and just like she has lost his family. Her new position as a nurse brings her into the camp management circles, where she not only gets sufficient and good food, but where she is also valued for her education. She herself also enjoys experiencing a bit of sophistication and even being able to play the piano. As a like-minded person, she feels more and more drawn to Anton and in the end she falls in love with the camp doctor. Since a relationship between two prisoners is forbidden, Anton is transferred to a different camp when the camp management finds out. She notes:

“Our planet does not seem to be made for happiness. Lust lies only in dreaming about the future. In this life dying is not difficult. Believing in life is harder. "

After ten long and hard years, Eugenia's release is imminent. But afterwards she is forbidden to return to her mother country. Eugenia says goodbye to her fellow prisoners and when the gate of the camp opens for her, she stands in the long-awaited freedom. Now she has to find her way to a new home alone in the Siberian cold. She can hardly believe it when Anton approaches her in the middle of the snowstorm.

Eugenia and Anton get married. Eugenia's son Vasilij comes to them in Siberia, and they adopted a little girl, Antonina. In 1955 Eugenia Ginzburg was rehabilitated and her banishment lifted.

background

The script is based on Ginsburg's memories of life in the Gulag : Krutoj maršrut (literally: hard march route), published in German in two parts under the title march route of a life and a tightrope walk . In order not to be suspected of exaggerating the atrocities of the labor camps for ideological reasons, Gorris chose a real story for her film Mitten im Sturm and only expanded it fictionally at a few points.

reception

Birgit Roschy wrote at epd-film.de: With Marleen Gorriss Film "a moving, but basically good and poor retelling with too much understatement was created, whose greatest achievement is that it raises many questions."

At Der Tagesspiegel , Kerstin Decker assessed: “At the labor camp, Marleen Gorris' rapprochement finally fails; not only when the German-Russian camp doctor falls in love with the professor. Without Ulrich Tukur's ability to ground dramaturgically lost characters, everything would have turned out even worse, but the worst possible case occurs when describing the worst possible: The warehouse remains accessories. "

The critics at the Lexicon of International Films said: “In its approach to the horror, the staging seems too wooden and cold to convey it credibly. Instead, she relies on the power of the literature recited in the film, whereby a poetic condensation only succeeds late. "

Martin Gobbin from critic.de: “In the middle of the storm is spatially and stylistically divided into two halves: In urban life before the arrest, slightly desaturated colors dominate, light veils flooding through many shots and stately buildings in which the protagonist appears lost. The second part, set in Siberia, on the other hand, is characterized by dark images from the overcrowded prisoner barracks and gleaming white images of the majestic landscapes, from whose vastness no escape is possible. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Release certificate for the middle of a storm . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , April 2011 (PDF; test number: 127 341 K).
  2. a b Mitten im Sturm - Critique at critic.de, accessed on March 6, 2018.
  3. Critique of Mitten im Sturm at epd-film.de, accessed on March 6, 2018.
  4. Kerstin Decker: Gulag-Kinodrama: 'Mitten im Sturm'. Condemned to life. Der Tagesspiegel, May 5, 2011, accessed on June 18, 2017 .
  5. In the middle of the storm. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed June 18, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used