Colonel Redl (1985) ( Oberst Redl )

Colonel Redl (1985) (DVD) (*)

$30.99

Original Title: Oberst Redl
Screened, competed or awarded at:
BAFTA Awards
Cannes Film Festival
Golden Globes
Oscar Academy Awards
Other Film Festival Awards

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

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( PAL/Region 0 )

Running Time:
136 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.78:1)

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 1985 and produced in:
Germany ( Germany, Central Europe )
Hungary ( Russia, Eastern Europe )

Directed By:
Istvan Szabo

Written By:
Péter Dobai
John Osborne

Actors:
Klaus Maria Brandauer ..... Col. Alfred Redl
Hans Christian Blech ..... Col. von Roden
Armin Mueller-Stahl ..... The Crown Prince
Gudrun Landgrebe ..... Katalin Kubinyi
Jan Niklas ..... Kristof Kubinyi
László Mensáros ..... Col. Ruzitska
András Bálint ..... Dr. Gustav Sonnenschein
László Gálffi ..... Alfredo Velocchio
Dorottya Udvaros ..... Clarissa
Károly Eperjes ..... Lt. Jaromil Schorm
Róbert Rátonyi ..... Baron Ullmann

Synopsis:

In the early part of the 20th Century, Alfred Redl (Klaus Maria Brandauer) ruthlessly rises from his peasant background to become a high-ranking member of the Imperial Austrian Military. But when Redl is sent to spy on the Russian Empire, his espionage is compromised by his secret double life as a homosexual. As the world perches on the brink of war, Redl finds himself trapped in a web of deception where honor, grandeur and greed can only be betrayed by one final shocking act of fate. Armin Mueller-Stahl (Shine) co-stars in this remarkable epic written and directed by Istvan Szabo (Sunshine) that became Szabo and Brandauer's internationally acclaimed follow-up to their Oscar-winning classic Mephisto (1981 Best Foreign Language Film).

The second film in the trilogy made by director Istvan Szabo and actor Klaus Maria Brandauer - hammocked between Mephisto and Hanussen - Colonel Redl continues Mephisto's fascination with a man overwhelmed by history. In that film, Brandauer played an actor who tried to ignore the rise of the Third Reich, and here he's an ambitious military officer in pre-World War I Austria whose career path is set early on. In military school, he's forced to inform on a student who's the source of a practical joke; though he beats himself up for being a Judas, he soon realizes that to rise in the ranks he must overcome his peasant background and hide his homosexuality by ingratiating himself with his superiors. In time, he becomes Chief of Military Intelligence for the Austro-Hungarian empire. Though he professes to hate politics and politicians, Redl also can't avoid them. When the leader for whom Redl is supposedly spying among the officer corps, draws up a list of who can't be exposed for traitorous activities (including Austrian nobles, Hungarians, Czechs, Serbs, Croatians, and even the usual scapegoats, Jews - the aftershocks of the Dreyfuss affair are still rumbling), he tells Redl that he must find a double of himself, a Ukrainian. Now certain that he will be exposed, Redl surrenders to fate, quoting to his wife from Montaigne: "It's no sin to be involved. It's a sin to remain involved." Brandauer is a wonder as the self-loathing Redl, and Szabo's camera picks up every nuance on his expressive face. The film eschews music except for several party scenes, and the absence of a score is most effective in the final shots of Redl's fellow officers awaiting his fate.

Set during the fading glory of the Austro Hungarian Empire, the film tells the rise and fall of Alfred Redl (Klaus Maria Brandauer), an ambitious young officer who rises become head of the secret police, only to become ensnarred in political deception.

This product was added to our catalog on Wednesday 16 May, 2012.

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