Heinrich Böll Movies
- 1983
This two-hour documentary and fiction film was a cooperative writing effort by five different German writers and/or directors, one of the most noted being the 1972 Nobel prize winner Heinrich Böll. Böll was specifically responsible for three fictive episodes at the end of the film that promote an anti-nuclear, pro-peace message ("Space Talk," "Atom Bunker," and "Kill Your Sister"). Documentary footage of Chancellors Helmut Kohl and Helmut Schmidt in action, along with various European and American leaders highlight the urgent issues of the day. At a time when this film partly addresses these issues and partly hedges its bets, religious leaders in Europe were coming out with a very strong anti-war statement. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jürgen Prochnow, Günther Kaufmann, (more)
- 1983
This made-for-TV film is an Americanized remake of the 1975 German film The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (based on the novel by Heinrich Böll). Shorn of most of her movie-star glamour, Marlo Thomas plays Kathryn Beck, whose one-night stand with handsome Ben Cole (Kris Kristofferson) all but ruins her life. Cole is suspected of being a political terrorist; as a result, Kathryn is seized by the authorities and relentlessly questioned. Her ordeal intensifies when she becomes the target of a ruthless investigative reporter. When she seeks legal aid, Kathryn finds that her basic civil rights aren't even as well protected as those of the fugitive Cole. Act of Passion: Lost Honor of Kathryn Beck premiered on January 24, 1984, minus the Act of Passion portion of the title, which was added later to pump up rerun ratings. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
This provocative film anthology contains nine short fiction and documentary films believed to have had great influence on the development of New German Cinema. Each of the five was directed by a different German filmmaker and are set during the politically tempestuous summer of 1977 in West Germany when terrorism ran rampant. Filmmakers include Fassbinder, Boll, Schlondorff, Sinkel, Kluge (who narrates) and more. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Caroline Chaniolleau
- 1977
The West German/French Group Portrait with Lady (Gluppenbild mit Dame) is based on a bestselling novel by Heinrich Böll. The film is a string of anecdotes, some longer than others, related to the topic of German war guilt. The main plotline involves German woman Romy Schneider's affair with Russian prisoner of war Brad Dourif. Through an occasionally confusing series of flashbacks, we discover Schneider's ultimate fate, and also solve the mystery of the Jewish girl buried in a convent cemetery. Romy Schneider won several German film awards for her participation in this 100-minute elegy. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Romy Schneider, Michel Galabru, (more)
- 1975
Based on the best-selling novel by Nobel-laureate Heinrich Böll, this drama is a passionate indictment of Catholicism. Hans Schnier (Helmut Griem) has earned his living as a clown, though he is in fact a very covert sort of social critic. After enduring a difficult childhood in Bonn during the Second World War, including his mother's fanatic Nazism, he is appalled to discover many of the people he knows and loves swept deeply into involvement in the Catholic Church. His complete estrangement from his family and friends, who are now either bourgeois or passionately Catholic (or both), is demonstrated to him, after he makes a series of efforts to make contact. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Helmut Griem, Hanna Schygulla, (more)
- 1975
- PG
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The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum marks the directorial debut for actress Margarethe von Trotta, who co-directed the film with her then-husband Volker Schlöndorff. At a costume party, Katharina Blum (Angela Winkler) meets Ludwig Goetten (Jürgen Prochnow ) and spends the night with him. The next morning, he's gone and the police bust into her apartment looking for him with the belief that he is a dangerous terrorist. She is taken into police custody and interrogated by Kommissar Beizmenne (Mario Adorf), who questions her about her every action. Meanwhile, sleazy reporter Werner Toetges (Dieter Laser) makes her story into a scandal in the papers by writing sensational stories about her personal life and portraying her as a criminal in photos. He exaggerates the testimonies of her ex-husband, neighbors, and even her elderly mother who is dying of cancer in an intensive care hospital. With the fear-induced public thinking she is a Communist and terrorist sympathizer, Katharina receives hate mail and personal threats until she is finally driven over the edge. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Angela Winkler, Mario Adorf, (more)
- 1965
Husband-and-wife filmmakers Straub and Huillet are best known for their avant-garde films, but they did make a few dramas, though the complexity of this one may turn off some viewers. It is the chronicle of the difficult lives of three generations of relatives from a German family who hold a reunion in 1956 Cologne. There they look back on their troubled history that began when their children were killed during WW I. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1962
This off-beat yet unexceptional drama by West German director Herbert Vesely takes a few stabs at the assumptions that a financially comfortable life must be the best type of existence. Walter (Christian Doermer) has everything he could desire, including a fiancée, yet he is not content. In an attempt to regain the happier days when he was economically struggling he decides to walk away from his current existence. His fiancée is rejected along with all his wealthy friends and associates as Walter turns around to face a new life -- and a new relationship. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Christian Doermer, Vera Tschechowa, (more)
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