Wanted poster of an unwanted person

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Movie
Original title Wanted poster of an unwanted person
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1975
length 105 minutes
Rod
Director Joachim Kunert
script Joachim Kunert
production DEFA on behalf of
East German television
music Wolfgang Thiel
camera Horst Hardt
cut Christa Helwig
occupation

Characteristics of undesirables is an episodic film of television of the GDR by Joachim Kunert from the year 1975 three stories based on motifs of investigative journalist Günter Wallraff .

action

Episode 1: Prince Monk Emmeram and his servant W.

Günter Wallraff, aka Ivo Wrede and his friend Wolfgang, aka Herbert looking for a member of the richest families in the first episode Federal Republic in Prüfening at Regensburg on, it's the Prince Emanuel von Thurn und Taxis . Since he cannot be considered as ruling prince in the line of succession of his family , he declares his 100 room castle a monastery , himself a prior and has called himself Father Emmeram ever since . A circular and begging letter he wrote to expand his monastic area brought Wallraff on the trail of the member of the billionaire family and wants to investigate the connections on site.

Together, Ivo and Herbert apply to Father Emmeram as monks in his monastery, but he is suspicious and lets them both off, even though he is told of a great inheritance. The following days they interviewed many citizens of the city of Regensburg and discovered that the whole city is in the hands of the Thurn und Taxis family , whether it is apartments, cultural institutions, the forest or beer. The whole family also earns money at the monastery, solely through the tax breaks, as Wallraff proves with the statutes of the monastery as a registered association with non-profit, charitable and church tasks.

A renewed audition at Father Emmeram brings the desired success after mentioning that the inheritance is almost 100,000 German marks. Ivo and Herbert are accepted as lay monks and also receive accommodation, for which they also have to work hard. Wallraff in particular wins the priest's trust and in this way gets a little insight into the operation of the monastery and the financial support it receives. The two monks bid farewell to the monastery when Günter Wallraff lets out a speech as God through loudspeakers from the floor of the chapel, in which Father Emmeram's behavior and that of the Thurn and Taxis family are condemned.

Episode 2: Melitta Report

In the second episode, Günter Wallraff, alias Hans Müller, goes to Minden in North Rhine-Westphalia to check whether you really feel as comfortable at Melitta as the advertising promises. The company of the former NSDAP member and SS-Obersturmbannführer Horst Bentz became known through its success in coffee and coffee filter production. When he registered, Hans Müller was informed that the personnel department is called the social department. Its manager Melitta Feistkorn, a cousin of Bentz, familiarized him with the rules of the company. Above all, the company's own block and lead law of the company owner is binding on all employees. In summary, it can be said that the employee has no rights to carry out all the orders of the superiors without discussion, the employees are monitored, there is a smoking ban in the whole house and much more and these house rules are to be equated with the Bible . Hans Müller is employed in the dispatch department of the company with a trial period of 10 years and the prospect of a subsequent permanent position.

Of course, Günter Wallraff also succeeds in finding several colleagues as allies and informants for his research. A director of the house reveals the true identity of Wallraff, which leads to his dismissal. Before doing this, he is warned not to publish his explorations. It begins with the threat of a complaint because he forged his signature when hiring and the threat of legal action if his findings are published, but in any case a kind of profile about his person is sent to all large companies in Germany.

Episode 3: Meal, Director

In the third episode, Günter Wallraff, alias Friedrich-Wilhelm Gies, goes to Cologne to apply to the Gerling group, whose owner and thus the boss of over ten thousand employees, Dr. Hans Gerling is. He states that he last worked as a freelance painter and is now looking for permanent employment to provide for his family, as there is still time for painting after work. But the head of the HR office immediately lets him understand that he has to give the company all his strength. Gies adds that he admires Frau Gerling as an artist, but leaves open whether he knows her personally. In any case, he is hired as a runner and messenger, a girl for everything, with opportunities for advancement.

Here, too, he finds people who tell him stories from the company and as a messenger he gets to know many of them. An elevator will be installed in Dr. Unlocked Gerling's office if he's in the house. He also has his meal in his own salon, where a private waiter in a white tuxedo serves him and everything just so that he doesn't meet an ordinary employee. The dining rooms are basically graduated for all classes: the ordinary employees eat in the canteen, the authorized signatories in the garden house and the directors in the casino. A colleague says that she should be dismissed just because she didn't recognize his voice on the phone and asked again.

When he was asked one day whether he still lived at the address he had given, he said yes. But the evening before he was supposed to represent a colleague and the person who was supposed to notify him could not find him at the address. There is also no tenant in the house who knows him, which is why his resignation is imminent. Günter Wallraff now wants to leave the company with a bang and goes in his messenger uniform to the casino reserved for the directors to have lunch. Word of this action immediately got around in the house and he had laughs on his side when he said goodbye.

The film ends with a solo song by the songwriter Dieter Süverkrüp , in which he accompanies himself on the guitar.

production

Since he could not "accommodate" the three stories Prince Monk Emmeram and his servant W. , Melitta Report and Meal, Mr. Director, according to his own statement, in the Federal Republic , the contract with the television of the GDR was concluded . Three short black and white films were made , interrupted by interview passages with Günter Wallraff , in which he explained, among other things, the circumstances under which his reports were created.

The scenario came from Gerhard Bengsch and the dramaturgy was in the hands of Ottomar Lang .

The first broadcast took place on November 16, 1975 in the first program of the television of the GDR .

criticism

Peter Berger states in New Germany :

“A greater complexity in capturing West German reality was [therefore] aimed at through the extraordinarily skillful combination of dramatic and journalistic design means and levels. Press releases, diary notes, original surveys, clearly identified as documentary elements, found their way into the game scene. The personal presence of the writer Günter Wallraff in the film increased the evidential value of the film scenes and at the same time increased the audience's participation. "

Mimosa Künzel writes in the Neue Zeit :

“The profile of an undesirable person is about finding the truth, about getting to grips with reality. Here we witnessed actions by an author who goes to work with extraordinary, sensational methods. "

Gisela Herrmann wrote in the Berliner Zeitung :

"Scenic documentary works with such a powerful content and artistically successful form are more often desired on our screen."

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Neues Deutschland, November 7, 1975, p. 4
  2. Neues Deutschland from November 20, 1975, p. 4
  3. Neue Zeit of November 20, 1975, p. 4
  4. Berliner Zeitung of November 21, 1975, p. 6