Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1965
The Adventures of Werner Holt (film)
Buy The Adventures of Werner Holt (film) now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'The Adventures of Werner Holt' is a 1965 East German drama film directed by Joachim Kunert.
Plot
Werner Holt, a young Luftwaffenhelfer in an anti-aircraft gun crew stationed on the eastern border of Germany in the last days of World War II, is awaiting the attack of the Red Army with his friend and commander Gilbert Wolzow. Holt recalls the last two years of his life: his meeting with Wolzow, their conscription, his experience as an assistant in an anti-aircraft battery. He remembers how he began to lose faith in the war's aims, after witnessing the brutal crushing of the Slovak National Uprising and having a sexual encounter with an SS officer's wife, which left him disgusted. After that, he realized that his father's claims about millions of people being murdered in the concentration camps were true.
As the Soviets attack, Wolzow orders his ill-equipped soldiers to hold to the last man. Holt flees, only to hear that his friend was himself accused of treason by an SS blocking detachment. He arrives in time to see Wolzow hanged. Enraged, Holt grabs a machine-gun and mows down the executioners. He then deserts.
Cast
Production
The script was based on Dieter Noll's best-selling novel, 'The Adventures of Werner Holt', for which he received East Germany's National Prize in 1963.Paul Cooke, Marc Silberman. 'Screening War: Perspectives on German Suffering'. . Page 76.
Reception
The film sold more than three million tickets in East Germany alone,Ralf Schenk. '[http://www.superillu.de/kino-tv/Werner_Holt_122639.html Der Panzer rollte direkt auf uns zu] '. Superillu, 30 August 2006. and was well received in the Soviet Union.Sovexportfilm. 'Soviet Film, 1970'. Moscow (1970). . Page 11. It was one of the relatively few DEFA pictures to be released in West Germany, where it enjoyed considerable success, as well.
Director Joachim Kunert, writer Claus Kchenmeister and cinematographer Rolf Sohre all won the National Prize of East Germany, 2nd Class, on 6 October 1965.[http://www.defa.de/cms/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=599 DEFA chronicle of 1965]. The film was also selected as the best film of the year by the readers of the magazine 'Junge Welt', and its producers were honored with the Erich Weinert Medal. Abroad, 'The Adventures of Werner Holt' received the Prize for the Best Anti-Fascist Film and the Prize of the Soviet Peace Committee at the 4th Moscow International Film Festival, as well as an honorary diploma at the 1965 Edinburgh Film Festival. In addition, it was granted an honorary medal at the 1966 Carthage Film Festival.'[http://www.defa-stiftung.de/cms/(S(t0bclf55a2cpcs45pc33fy55))/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=412&FilmID=Q6UJ9A002KRN Die Abenteuer des Werner Holt]'. Defa-stiftung.de.
On 6 February 1965, the 'National-Zeitung' columnist Hartmut Albrect wrote that the picture contained "extraordinary, well-made scenes that convey deeper messages than those immediately noticed." Gnter Sobe from the 'Berliner Zeitung' dubbed the picture "remarkably authentic", having "a powerful effect." Critic Ulrich Gregor praised Kunert's decision to split the plot into two storylines in order to deal with the chronological inconsistency of Noll's book.'[http://www.fk-thueringen.de/filmkatalog/eintrag.php?id=3 Die Abenteuer des Werner Holt]'. Fk-thueringen.de. The German International Film Lexicon described the picture as "one that causes shock and warns against misguided ideals."'[http://www.zweitausendeins.de/filmlexikon/?sucheNach=titel&wert=44946 Die Abenteuer des Werner Holt]'. Zweitausendsundeins.de.
Sabine Hake cited 'The Adventures of Werner Holt' as one of the most notable films that, using a modernist style, challenged the traditional East German anti-Fascist narrative by introducing a more personal perspective to the theme.Sabine Hake. 'German National Cinema.' Routledge (2002). . Page 123. Anke Pinkert, too, viewed it as a picture that dealt with the issue in a more realistic manner than previous works.Anke Pinkert. 'Film and memory in East Germany'. Indiana University Press (2008). . Page 146. James Chapman wrote that the "flashbacks and the stream-of-consciousness techniques" employed by the director enabled Kunert to present "a fully rounded protagonist".James Chapman. 'War and Film'. Reaktion Books (2008). . Page 79. Daniela Berghan included the film among DEFA's Anti-Fascist classics.Daniela Berghahn. 'Hollywood behind the Wall: the cinema of East Germany'. . Page 73. Authors Antonin and Miera Liehm classified it as one of the "army epics", a genre that used the setting of the German military to convey strong criticism of the country's militaristic tradition.Miera Liehm, Antonin J. Liehm. 'The Most Important Art: Soviet and Eastern European Film After 1945'. . Pages 269-270.
In 1996, 'The Adventures of Werner Holt' was selected by a commission of historians and critics as one of the hundred most important German films ever made.'[http://www.progress-film.de/de/filmarchiv/film.php?id=181 Die Abenteuer des Werner Holt] '. Progress-film.de.
References
Buy The Adventures of Werner Holt (film) now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1965