Questioning the witnesses
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Questioning the witnesses |
| Country of production | GDR |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1987 |
| length | 76 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Gunther Scholz |
| script |
Manfred Richter Gunther Scholz |
| production | DEFA , KAG "Red Circle" |
| music | Friedbert Wissmann |
| camera | Claus Neumann |
| cut | Christine Schöne |
| occupation | |
| |
Examination of the witnesses is a German crime film of the DEFA of Gunther Scholz from 1987. The film is based on the story The examination of the witnesses of the Magdeburg writer Inge Meyer . This in turn took up a student murder from 1974 in the village of Parey on the Elbe .
action
The young Maximilian stabs his classmate Rainer to death. Maximilian's mother, as a doctor, has to determine Rainer's death and also recognizes from the weapon used that her son is the murderer. Maximilian is arrested. The witness statements reveal the background to the crime.
Maximilian has grown up with his grandmother in Berlin since he was at school . Now, shortly before he turns 18, his mother Beate brings him back into her family. Maximilian has to say goodbye to his friends and his great hobby, sailing. He has to move from Berlin to a small village where his mother works as a doctor. The mother's new relationship with Gunnar Strach, whom she plans to marry soon, is also stressful. Gunnar and Maximilian don't get along.
The good student Maximilian also has problems at school. A constant battle of strength develops with the leader of the class Rainer. Both boys fall in love with their classmate Viola, who was Rainer's friend before Maximilian's appearance, but who is now between the two boys. A friendship develops between all three, and Maximilian takes them both to Berlin to go sailing. When Maximilian gave Viola a dog that he had previously received from his mother and Gunnar, Rainer became suspicious. At a campfire with other schoolmates, Maximilian sings love songs to the guitar, among other things. When Viola asks him to continue singing, Rainer pulls her into a nearby wooded area. Maximilian runs after them, but a little later sees them making love.
Viola and Rainer are now a couple, especially since Rainer's Viola is pregnant. Viola gives Maximilian his dog back. The schoolmates expose him in front of the whole class, the test of strength between him and Rainer becomes a test of strength between Maximilian and Rainer's friends, which Maximilian is not up to. Beate and Gunnar, who have more and more arguments themselves, are of no help to Maximilian and neither can their grandmother give any advice. When the dog ran away to Viola again, Rainer Maximilian set a deadline to pick up the animal. Maximilian lets the deadline pass and Rainer kills the animal and puts it in front of Maximilian's house. Furious with rage, Maximilian runs after Rainer and stabs him when he greets him with a provocative saying.
Rainer is buried. Beate knows that Maximilian can never set foot in the village again. She herself will always be considered the doctor whose son is a murderer. Gunnar has had a nervous breakdown and it is unclear whether he will return to Beate. Maximilian faces several years in prison for manslaughter . He notes that everyone was really only looking forward to the school holidays.
production
The hearing of the witnesses is based on the story of the same name by Inge Meyer , which in turn draws on authentic events. The premiere took place on March 26, 1987 in the Berlin Kino International . The next day the film was shown in GDR cinemas.
It was the feature film debut of René Steinke , who was completing his training as a communications engineer at the time of shooting .
The scenes in the village environment were shot in pieces .
criticism
The contemporary criticism found that "the wooden, theatrical acting of the actors [...] symptom enough for the formal uncertainties in the staging of this authentic story". The film is neither a "documentary and socially narrated crime film" nor a psychodrama.
For the lexicon of international film , the interrogation of the witnesses was "a demanding crime film traced to an authentic criminal case, which compels an argument, whereby the harshness of the event is alleviated by a few romanticizing scenes and an overly smooth occupation."
Awards
The interrogation of the witnesses took place in 1987 in the competition for the Golden Prize of the Moscow International Film Festival , but could not prevail against Fellini's Intervista by Federico Fellini . In 1990 the film was shown at the Verona International Film Week.
literature
- F.-B. Habel : The great lexicon of DEFA feature films. The complete documentation of all DEFA feature films from 1946 to 1993. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , pp. 663–664.
Web links
- Examination of the witnesses in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Examination of the witnesses at filmportal.de
- Examination of the witnesses at the DEFA Foundation
Individual evidence
- ↑ F.-B. Habel : The great lexicon of DEFA feature films. The complete documentation of all DEFA feature films from 1946 to 1993. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , p. 664.
- ↑ Norbert Wehrstedt in: Central German Latest News , March 28, 1987.
- ↑ Examination of the witnesses. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed July 21, 2018 .