Taking Sides
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Movie Reviews of Taking Sides
Movie Review: Strange Role Reversals
Summary: 5 Stars
A previous reviewer opined that if you're a conservative you'll find yourself sympathetic to Furtwangler's persecutor, Maj. Arnold (played brilliantly by Harvey Keitel); if you're a liberal you'll root for Furtwangler (played just a briliantly by Skarsgard). Huh? I'm to the right of Ghenghis Khah but even I saw in the Arnold character a reprisal of Roland Freisler's real-life prosecutorial style. Freisler from 1942 to his death in a bombing raid (saved him from hanging at Nurnberg I'm sure) was president of the infamous Volksgerichtshof (People's Court). He sentenced Sophie Scholl and the other White Rose conspirators to death, represented Nazi justice at the Wannsee Conference where the Holocaust was planned, and prosecuted the officers who tried to assassinate Hitler (the Twentieth of July 1944 Plot)(see how it is used in this movie). In fact Maj. Arnold's prosecutorial style reminded me vividly of Freisler's. To imply that conservative Americans would be attracted to the Arnold character, or that liberals wouldn't, is an insult to both camps. (See "Trial of Strength," by Fred Prieberg if you want to learn more about Wilhelm Furtwanger and the Third Reich.) Yes, Furtwangler furthered the Nazi cause with his art and he accepted vast rewards for his work on its behalf. Did he act from political convictions, professional hubris or was he just plain gullible? Well, watch the movie.Movie Review: Degenerating Righteousness
Summary: 5 Stars
The most negative review of this film derides it as "revisionist" and appallingly anti-American. If you are, like that reviewer, more a patriot than an independent thinker, you'll surely hate this movie. The Americans in it are portrayed as cultural yahoos for the most part. The character played by Harvey Keitel is a country-music-only kind of guy who has only anger and insensitivity toward European civilization, represented by the music of Beethoven and the adulation expressed by "highbrows" for the conducting of Wilhelm Furtwangler. As Keitel's character, an American army officer, investigates the charges of collaboration with the Nazis against Furtwangler, his frustration with the mistique which he can't appreciate grows more and more ferocious, and he degenerates morally into a kind of intolerance not far removed from the mentality of Nazism itself. Make no mistake: this film is about Keitel's character, not about Furtwangler as portrayed with deliberate neutrality and ambiguity by Stellan Skarsgard.
This is easily the most interesting film about the occupation and aftermath of World War II that I've seen - far deeper and more psychologically penetrating than the recent "Lives of Others." It obviously didn't sit well with American audiences when it was released; it isn't simplistic enough for those of us raised on Cold War certainties.
Movie Review: Asking the Right Questions: First Step Toward the Truth
Summary: 5 Stars
This profound film, played by the very able actors, asks two important questions, which had been almost invariably played down and silenced for 60 years after the WWII -- until now. 1) If most of the Germans didn't know what horrors were perpetrated by the Nazis, how come the same innocent Germans knew very well, at the same time, that they had to save their favorite Jews? 2) A genius conductor, Wilhelm Furtwaengler, has never become a member of the Nazi party, and actually saved many Jewish musicians, apart from giving us the best existing performances of Beethoven and many other masters. Not a genius at all, Herbert von Karajan has been an enthusiastic Nazi party member and the favorite musician of the Nazi regime, he never saved anybody but his own precious skin, and bored to death generations of classical music lovers. How come the post-WWII crowd of anti-fascist communists, gays and atonalists, taking over all musical institutions, has boycotted Furtwaengler until his death and beyond, but immediately embraced and befriended von Karajan, making "little k" rich, famous, and one of their self-appointed elite? If you can find an answer to the second question, you know an answer to the whole of the 20th century.Movie Review: Taking sides
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie was another excellent account of the happenings concerning famous conductors during the Reich and whether or not they were guilty of using an evil regime for their personal fame and glory.
Also the question arises yet again whether or not Art and Politics can/ should be separated. Like sports and politics...The obvious answer is that they cannot and we are left to judge mr. Furtwangler with our own convictions, background, musical knowledge and historical facts.
Well acted. Sober, convincing and mind provoking.
Anyone interested in this period in history and the arts should see it and form his or her own opinion.
Movie Review: A Gem of a Film!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a film that challenges the viewer to make a decision about Furtwangler, Europe's renown conductor during the ocupation of Europe by Hitler. It should be seen with good friends, buttered popcorn and an attentive mind. Keitel's performance along with Stellan Skargard and Moritz Bleibtreu renders an marvelous ensemble on screen. A gem of a film.