The People vs. Fritz Bauer

Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer

MS12

Genre

Drama

Director

Lars Kraume

Run time

1h 45min

Cast

Burghart Klaußner, Ronald Zehrfeld, Lilith Stangenberg, Jörg Schüttauf, Sebastian Blomberg

With laurels from winning the Audience Award in Locarno, an important part of Germany's history from the fifties finally hits the big screen in full detail.

In contrast to "Labyrinth of Lies" this one plays closer to historical facts on one important political figure. In 1957, the Hessian attorney general Fritz Bauer receives crucial evidence on the whereabouts of SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann. The lieutenant colonel, responsible for the mass deportation of the Jews, is allegedly hiding in Buenos Aires. Bauer, himself Jewish, tries to take crimes from the Third Reich to court, ever since he returned from Danish exile. So far without success, due of the fierce German determination to repress its past. Because of his distrust in the German justice system, Fritz Bauer contacts the Israeli secret service Mossad, and by doing so, commits treason. Bauer is not bend on revenge for the holocaust – he is concerned with the German future and ready to betray his state to open up the way for it. While his importance for being about the Ausschwitz Process was never disputed, only after his death Bauers role in the Eichmann Case became known. This thrilling portrait is given face and soul by Burghart Klaußner. A man of undefeated morals, yet churned by outer world and inner feelings, the acting is pristine. At the same time directors Lars Kraume's restrained approach makes the fifties look utterly convincing and couldn't be more modern: The film's sincerity and seriousness evades any moment of hysteria, just delivering a very fine example of a man.

Genre

Drama

Director

Lars Kraume

Run time

1h 45min

Cast

Burghart Klaußner, Ronald Zehrfeld, Lilith Stangenberg, Jörg Schüttauf, Sebastian Blomberg

With laurels from winning the Audience Award in Locarno, an important part of Germany's history from the fifties finally hits the big screen in full detail.

In contrast to "Labyrinth of Lies" this one plays closer to historical facts on one important political figure. In 1957, the Hessian attorney general Fritz Bauer receives crucial evidence on the whereabouts of SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann. The lieutenant colonel, responsible for the mass deportation of the Jews, is allegedly hiding in Buenos Aires. Bauer, himself Jewish, tries to take crimes from the Third Reich to court, ever since he returned from Danish exile. So far without success, due of the fierce German determination to repress its past. Because of his distrust in the German justice system, Fritz Bauer contacts the Israeli secret service Mossad, and by doing so, commits treason. Bauer is not bend on revenge for the holocaust – he is concerned with the German future and ready to betray his state to open up the way for it. While his importance for being about the Ausschwitz Process was never disputed, only after his death Bauers role in the Eichmann Case became known. This thrilling portrait is given face and soul by Burghart Klaußner. A man of undefeated morals, yet churned by outer world and inner feelings, the acting is pristine. At the same time directors Lars Kraume's restrained approach makes the fifties look utterly convincing and couldn't be more modern: The film's sincerity and seriousness evades any moment of hysteria, just delivering a very fine example of a man.

Info

Rating

Under 12 Not Recommended

Production year

2015

Global distributor

Alarahastatud Filmikompanii

Local distributor

Goethe-Institut

In cinema

4/25/2016