Secret Honor
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Secret Honor - The secret honor of the president |
| Original title | Secret Honor |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1984 |
| length | 90 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK - |
| Rod | |
| Director | Robert Altman |
| script |
Donald Freed , Arnold M. Stone |
| production | Robert Altman |
| music | George Burt |
| camera |
Robert Harders , Pierre Mignot |
| cut | Juliet Weber |
| occupation | |
| |
Secret Honor is a feature film by director Robert Altman from 1984. Written as a play by Donald Freed and Arnold M. Stone , the work was filmed in parallel to the stage performance.
In the chamber play , the only actor Philip Baker Hall plays the ex-US President Richard Nixon shortly after his resignation in connection with the Watergate affair in August 1974. The work mixes historical events with political fiction.
action
While Nixon gets drunk, he records a defense speech on a tape recorder, in which he slips into the role of his own defense lawyer before a fictional court. In contrast to the eloquent public speaker Nixon, the drunken Nixon of the film is a stuttering bundle of nerves that keeps falling out of character. Defense counsel is often punctuated by uncontrolled, paranoid fits of rage against his political opponents (and former allies, especially Henry Kissinger ), dialogues with his late mother, and other digressions.
In his digressions, Nixon describes his troubled childhood and how his talent for rhetoric and moral lack of principle led him to the office of US president. He sees himself as a little opportunist who doesn't care about any rules or principles as long as he can improve his social position. He believes that the average, typical American thinks the same way, and in some ways sees himself as a representative of this "common man".
Nixon's fictional defense speech refers to Watergate but takes a surprising twist. He confesses to the fictional court that from the start of his political career he was the tool of a political network that he calls "the Committee of 100". The main interest of this network is the billion dollar trade in heroin from East Asia. After the overwhelming election victory in his candidacy for a second term from 1972, the committee approached him with new instructions: He should continue the Vietnam War at all costs and strive for a constitutional amendment to allow him an extraordinary third term.
At this point he decided to get out because he was convinced that he would eventually be exposed. He does not want to be shot as a traitor for sacrificing thousands of American soldiers for drug trafficking. Due to his enormous popularity with the electorate and the threat posed by the powerful members of the network, the only way out was for him to stage the Watergate scandal himself and to destroy his political career. In the last shot, he again blames his voters for the villains being like him and that is why he voted for him. The film ends with the sounds of an applauding crowd.
Awards
Robert Altman's film was in the section 1985 Forum of New Cinema of the International Film Festival of Berlin represented. The drama won the FIPRESCI Prize together with Eduardo Coutinho's documentary Man Destined to Die (Twenty Years Later) .
criticism
“[…] In a dense character study that is also impressive in terms of performance, the film raises questions about politics, power and morality. Thanks to the sophisticated camera technology, it's also a visual pleasure. "
Web links
- Secret Honor in theInternet Movie Database(English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Secret Honor. In: Lexicon of international films . Film service , accessed July 18, 2017 .