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Plot

In this, the first film produced in postwar Germany, a doctor who served in a concentration camp attempts to deal with his immense guilt and ascribe meaning to his life. Driven to drink by his tormented conscience, the doctor wanders through a Germany ruined by the privations of the war, while his former captain at the camp has neatly segued back into a nice life with his family, apparently untroubled by his participation in the Holocaust. Encouraged by his girlfriend, a concentration camp survivor (Hildegarde Knef, in her first starring role), the doctor decides to denounce his captain to the war crimes investigators. Their personal crusade to bring the Nazi captain to justice becomes an allegory for the state of the German people.
MPAA Rating:
Genre(s):
Drama
Run Time:
85min.
DVD Release Date:
05/21/2002
Distributor(s):
Artkino
Director(s):
Wolfgang Staudte
Starring:
Hildegarde Neff , Wilhelm Borchert , Arno Paulsen
Themes:
Alcoholism,Crimes Against Humanity,Haunted By the Past
Tone:
Austere,Cathartic,Gloomy,Harsh
Keywords:
Germany,Nazism,Reich,alcoholism,anti-Semitism,atrocity,captain [military],concentration-camp,criminal,cynic,depression,doctor/nurse,execution,family,girlfriend,guilt,haunted,justice,killing,love,past,punishment,questioning [police interrogation],recovery [health],rehabilitation [physical therapy],responsibility,romance,shout,trial [courtroom],war,war-crimes,witness,wound [injury]
Language:
German