In our Monthly Film Series, we will show a variety of GERMAN or GERMAN language films from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. On the 2nd Wednesday of each month, audiences will now have a chance to see these films on a regular basis at the CLINTON STREET THEATER. (Children movies will be playing on Sunday afternoons – please check our website.) All films are with English subtitles.
WED. Oct. 10, 2018 – 7:00 PM
Director: Stephan Wagner, colour, 89 min., 2015
Cast: Ulrich Noethen, David Kross, Dieter Schaad, Bernhard Schütz, Nathalie Thiede, Attila Georg Borlan
The political drama sheds light on the historical figure Fritz Bauer, the Hessian Chief Public Prosecutor who was involved in the capture of Adolf Eichmann between 1959 and 1962.
In the early years of the Federal Republic, politics and the law in the late 1950s are still being controlled by an old-boy network made up of Nazis who had only been reformed on the surface. The Hessian Chief Public Prosecutor Fritz Bauer is fighting a lone battle against the cover-up of Nazi crimes and the restorative policies of the Adenauer government – he’s convinced that this is the only way the young democracy can stabilize.
His attitude, as well as his short temper, make Bauer vulnerable, and the lone warrior is constantly faced with resistance from politicians, intelligence services and the judiciary system. Knowing that there is little interest in Germany for the capture of Adolf Eichmann, Bauer attempts to persuade the Israeli intelligence service to arrest the organizer of the mass deportations who is believed to be in Argentina.
Bauer successfully manages to set secret negotiations with the Mossad in motion for Eichmann’s arrest. Supported by the young federal prosecutor Joachim Hell, Bauer perseveres. Using material from Eichmann’s interrogations, he wants to open a case against the Head of the Federal Chancellery Hans Globke, in order to punish him for his involvement in the deportations. In so doing, he dares to go against Adenauer’s closest political confidant.