Incident in Benderath

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Movie
Original title Incident in Benderath
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1956
length 98 minutes
Rod
Director János Veiczi
script János Veiczi
Curt Corrinth
production DEFA
music Adolf Fritz Guhl
camera Hans Hauptmann
cut Friedel Welsandt
occupation

Zwischenfall in Benderath is a film of the DEFA of János Veiczi from the year 1956 after the play Trojans by Curt Corrinth from the twenties, which was moved to the present.

action

Six high school students meet on a small island near the West German town of Benderath to relax and vote on the applications for admission from two classmates. They want to join the group called Trojans. To do this, however, the girls who are exceptionally present must first be brought off the island by a tricky action, as they are not supposed to gain insight into the internal affairs of the Trojans. An officer's son is accepted into the group despite initial concerns, while another classmate known as a sneaky guy is unanimously rejected. After the girls have found their way back to the island by swimming by themselves, normal everyday life can now continue.

In class, Jakob Lewin is repeatedly insulted by the history teacher Päker in the most primitive and meanest way about his Jewish origins. In addition, Jakob's father wrote articles in the press dealing with the resurgent fascism in West Germany, which the teacher finds particularly reprehensible. So it happens that the insults gain the upper hand again and Jakob Lewin has had enough of them. He asks the teacher to reverse his derailments. However, he sees no reason to do so. As a result, Jakob leaves school and the traditional members of the Trojans join in out of solidarity. On their small, hidden island, they seek protection from discovery and give the principal of the high school an ultimatum.

The case soon made headlines far beyond the school, parents, teachers, the press and the authorities got involved. The new member of the Trojans acts as a courier, but has to realize that there is no fighting against the majority of the teaching staff. So he also joins the six classmates on the island. In the meantime, a school council has also arrived in town to clarify the matter, as the school principal Tappert is only interested in keeping politics out of his school. Since the parents stand behind their children, the school council Casparius, a secret friend of Päker's convictions, sees no more possibility of protecting the school council further. In a confidential conversation, he explains to him that he has to leave school, but that he will be promoted to a higher position at a later date. So the students come back and the teacher Päker apologizes to Jakob in front of the class.

Before Jakob set off for a celebratory event to mark the 100th anniversary of the grammar school, he received the news that his father was arrested on a business trip in Düsseldorf because of his communist activities.

Production and publication

Incident in Benderath was filmed under the working title "Trojan" and had a double premiere on December 28, 1956 in the Babylon cinema in Berlin and in the DEFA film theater Kastanienallee (Berlin).

The Interministerial Committee for East-West Film Issues forbade the showing in the Federal Republic of Germany.

criticism

In the daily newspaper Neues Deutschland , Horst Knietzsch found that Incident in Benderath was one of the most interesting films of the 1956 production year. His director is characterized by "a lack of inclination for clothing". That doesn't necessarily have to be a sign of talent and artistic courage. There are enough cases where directors have only bluffed that the smoothing dramaturgy allows everything to be foreseen and the images show everything without there being anything to discover.

Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler noted in the film mirror that there was “no black and white” in the film, it was “the West Germany of our day, no exaggeration and nothing unbelievable”.

Manfred Merz wrote in the Neue Zeit that “the director and actors deserved unreserved praise for the magnificent scenes with the young people, the Club of Seven, who stand together in happy hours and in the difficult times of the decision”. Their firmly established community alone causes in this film "that in the end law and decency triumph over hatred and violence".

The lexicon of international films writes that the film ultimately removes part of its credibility through distortions.

Awards

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stefan Buchloh Pervers, endangering young people, subversive. Censorship in the Adenauer era as a mirror of the social climate . Frankfurt 2002, pp. 224-226
  2. ↑ Horst Knietzsch in Neues Deutschland from December 30, 1956
  3. ^ Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler in Filmspiegel 5/1957
  4. ^ Manfred Merz in Neue Zeit from January 1, 1957
  5. ^ Incident in Benderath. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed December 17, 2018 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used