East of War ( Jenseits des Krieges )

East of War (DVD) (*)

$24.99

Original Title: Jenseits des Krieges
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
French ( Subtitles )
German ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )

Product Origin/Format:
Germany ( PAL/Region 0 )

Running Time:
113 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.66:1)

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Trailer(s)

Movie filmed in 1996 and produced in:
Austria ( Germany, Central Europe )

Directed By:
Ruth Beckermann

Actors:
Ruth Beckermann

Synopsis:

Former soldiers who were part of the notorious Wehrmacht during WW II relive their experiences while visiting a Viennese exhibition that presents many of the horrible atrocities committed by the soldiers on the Eastern Front. While documentary director Ruth Beckermann questions them about their reactions and reminiscences, the soldiers speak freely and often argue with themselves about the events. Some are sorry for their brutality, while others rationalize such acts as shooting POWs, raping women and butchering Jewish people as part of what soldiers were expected to do.

White-tile rooms, neon lighting; on the walls black and white photographs from the exhibition entitled VERNICHTUNGSKRIEG (War of Extermination) documenting the atrocities committed by the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front. Against this backdrop, Ruth Beckermann and cameraman Peter Roehsler have filmed former soldiers talking about their experiences beyond the bounds of "normal" warfare. With a mixture of helplessness, impotence, shame, opportunism and undiminished fanaticism, witnesses from that time tell of atrocities such as shooting Russian prisoners-of-war, the murder of Jews, and the rape and abuse of women. The differing accounts of these events demonstrate how selective perception was even in this most inhuman and brutal of environments. This film seeks not only to contribute to the demolition of the myth of the "decent" Wehrmacht (as opposed to the evil SS) but also to illuminate the period in which the Second Republic was founded in Austria and to make a diagnosis of the present. It shows the fathers who worked to rebuild the country, who shaped today's society and who transmitted their ideas to their sons and daughters, and who now, more than fifty years on, at last attempt to articulate their experiences. The images of this war that take shape in the accounts of these "talking heads" have an immediacy and power to move rarely found in historical documents or fictional portrayals.

White-tiled rooms, neon lighting; on the walls black and white photographs documenting the atrocities committed by the German Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front in WW2. Against this background former soldiers talk about their experiences beyond the bounds of "normal" warfare. An uncompromising film on remembrance and oblivion.

This product was added to our catalog on Wednesday 08 October, 2008.

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