Defenseless - the general's daughter

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Movie
German title Defenseless - the general's daughter
Original title The General's Daughter
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1999
length 112 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Simon West
script Christopher Bertolini , William Goldman
production Mace Neufeld , Jonathan D. Krane
music Carter Burwell , Greg Hale Jones
camera Peter Menzies junior
cut Glen Scantlebury
occupation

Defenseless - The General's Daughter (Original title: The General's Daughter ) is an American feature film from 1999 . Directed led Simon West , the writer wrote Christopher Bertolini and William Goldman , based on the novel The General's Daughter (1992) by Nelson DeMille . The main roles were played by John Travolta and Madeleine Stowe .

action

Paul Brenner is Warrant Officer of the Criminal Investigation Division of the US Army and studied weapons thefts committed on a base in the southern United States. When he has a flat tire, he happens to meet Captain Elisabeth Campbell from the Psychological Warfare Department .

One night Elisabeth Campbell was found dead on the military site: she was lying naked on a training ground, her arms and legs tied and fixed to the ground with tent pegs . The scene suggests rape . Brenner takes over the investigation and learns that it was the daughter of the base commander , Lieutenant General Joseph Campbell. At the scene of the crime, colleague Sara Sunhill joins him, who is supposed to support him in the investigation. Sunhill was once Brenner's lover.

After analyzing the traces from the crime scene, it surprisingly turns out that the victim was not raped. Apparently, a rape was only staged at the crime scene. Due to fingerprints and footprints, Brenner quickly finds out about Colonel Robert Moore, who was Elisabeth Campbell's former superior. Brenner arrests him and has him locked up. A short time later, however, he is released again without Brenner's knowledge: The person responsible for the release explains to Brenner that he had no knowledge that Moore was a suspect in a murder case, but only believed him imprisoned because of an official misconduct. As a result, he released him from prison for heart problems and only placed him under house arrest. Angry, Brenner rushes to the man's house and finds him with a shot in the head and a gun in his hand.

Brenner doubts Moore's supposed suicide . Upon further investigation, he finds out that Elisabeth Campbell was the victim of gang rape seven years ago while she was at the United States Military Academy West Point. Her father, Joseph Campbell, was more concerned with protecting the honor of the military academy and persuaded his daughter to simply forget about the case. He was later given a promotion for quickly covering up the incident. Elisabeth, however, could not and would not simply undo the events. In order to attack her father's denial, she apparently entered into illegal sexual relationships with the general at random.

When he then gave her an ultimatum, she staged a counter ultimatum. She persuaded Robert Moore to handcuff her naked to the floor as on the night of rape. She had previously made a phone call to ensure that her father would find her so that he could immediately confront his daughter's denied situation. But he didn't want to know anything about it and just drove away. A short time later, Colonel William Kent passed the place. Kent loved Elizabeth but was only one of her fleeting affairs. When he wanted to kiss her, she cursed and insulted him, whereupon Kent strangled her. He had also murdered the suspect Moore in his house and made it look like a suicide in an attempt to get away with the murder of Elisabeth. After the confession, he committed suicide.

While Elizabeth's body is being transferred, Brenner accuses her father, Joseph Campbell, of being the real culprit for his daughter's death. He killed her seven years ago when he urged her to forget about the rape: the betrayal of her own daughter was worse than the original rape. In a military tribunal he charges the general with concealing a crime where he is found guilty. His condemnation is also his end.

Reviews

James Berardinelli wrote on ReelViews that originality is not one of the characteristics of this film, nevertheless it is "consistently pulling in", which is mainly due to the "solid" play of the actors and the "effective" direction by Simon West. Berardinelli particularly praised the portrayals of John Travolta, James Cromwell and James Woods.

"Exciting crime drama that prepares the plot in an emotionally effective way and condenses it into a human tragedy without betraying it in terms of speculative aesthetics."

- Lexicon of international film

"Exciting thriller by Simon West (" Con Air "), who staged Nelson DeMille's bestseller as a classic Whodunit."

- Kino.de

"Good story, mediocre staged."

- Cinema

Awards

James Cromwell , Madeleine Stowe and John Travolta were for the Film Prize Blockbuster Entertainment Award nomination. Carter Burwell won the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Award for his music . The film also won the Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Award .

The German Film and Media Assessment (FBW) in Wiesbaden awarded the film the title “particularly valuable”.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Film review by James Berardinelli
  2. ↑ Defenseless - The General's Daughter. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. ↑ Defenseless - The General's Daughter Kino.de . Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  4. ↑ DEFINITIVE - THE DAUGHTER OF GENERAL Cinema . Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  5. ↑ DEFINITIVE - THE DAUGHTER OF THE GENERAL fbw-filmbeval.com . Retrieved September 16, 2018.