Return to Vienna ( Wien Retour )

Return to Vienna (DVD) (*)

~~$28.99~~ $22.97

Original Title: Wien Retour
Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
French ( Subtitles )
German ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )

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

Running Time:
89 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Cast/Crew Interview(s)
Interactive Menu
Photo Gallery
Scene Access
Booklet

Movie filmed in 1983 and produced in:
Austria ( Germany, Central Europe )

Directed By:
Ruth Beckermann
Josef Aichholzer

Written By:
Franz West

Actors:
Ruth Beckermann

Synopsis:

The first person oral history of Franz West (1909-1985), a journalist and worker rights activist -a communist- in Vienna during the years between wars. With no rush and the typical meanders of an old educated man, West goes through his life in Leopoldstadt, the second district in Vienna, and through it we see the history of Austria in the 'short century' (in the words of Eric Hobsbawm). During that period, it went from an Empire to a republic in crisis dominated by fascism and later annexed to the Third Reich, and then occupied by the Allies after the defeat in World War II. 'Contrary to today', says West, 'people at the time had a very good feeling for who was a Jew. Today, with so few Jews around this is no longer so. Types like me, with black hair and not quite immaculate Greco-Roman nose, were immediately recognized as Jews. All you needed to do was jostle some unfriendly fellow-passengers in the tram, and you were sure to be abused as a Jew.

Franz West (1909-85) remembers his youth in Vienna: the variety of the Jewish population of the so called Matzah-Island, his commitment to the worker's movement of the Red Vienna and the rise of Austro-fascism and National Socialism. West's masterly narration combined with impressing archive footage illustrate and elucidate the complex Austrian history between WW1 and WW2.

This product was added to our catalog on Thursday 02 May, 2013.