Alemania, año cero

One of Roberto Rossellini's masterpieces, Germany Year Zero, suffers only from one minor liability, which is not totally the filmmaker's fault. The film was shot in German with the native language, but it was later shown around the world (at least I think around the world) in an Italian-dubbed print, which is also the version currently available on American DVD. True, Rossellini (as far as I know) didn't speak German, and he had it in Italian so he wouldn't have trouble getting the film distributed in his native land where he broke ground with Open City and Paisan. But it is a fair enough indication that not EVERYTHING in a film such as Germany Year Zero is based in total reality based on seeing this version. Once this is looked past though, one can get into the actual story and characters, which is what Rossellini is after- getting at least the emotional loss in this world perfectly clear.

Germany Year Zero - the third in a so-called trilogy of films that began with his breakthrough Open City and continued with Paisan - was brilliantly executed, in the quasi-documentary cinematography by Robert Juillard, the appropriately sorrowful score by Renzo Rossellini, and in the performances by first timers like Edmund Moeschke as Edmund Koeler (the main character), Ingetraude Hinze as Eva Koeler (Edmund's desperate sister), and Erich Guhne as Herr Enning (Edmund's ex-teacher who becomes a crucial supporting character). Edmund is a pre-teen who's lived through the devastation of the War, like his family, the families he lives with, and everyone else around him in the city, and he tries to get work despite his all-too-young age. Things seem bleak for his family, as his brother doesn't want to work for fear of being caught as a prisoner of the war, his elderly father can't work, and his sister goes out every night looking for things that only help herself. When Edmund runs into his once school-teacher (Enning), who is part of the cold, evil remnants of the Nazi regime, and this leads into the last act of the film, with startling, heart-breaking results.

While the story of Edmund- and of the line that scorches a kid's conscience between childhood innocence and the horrors of the real world- is a compelling and historically important one to tell, what Rossellini achieves here more than anything is the sense of dread in a desolate atmosphere. He achieved that in Open City too (I have yet to see Paisan so I can't comment), but that film had the tendency to take a little too much time involving us in sub-plots. In Germany Year Zero, however, the images presented stay with the viewer long after the film has ended since they're akin to the kind of sensibility Polanski had with The Pianist, in a technical sense- we're following someone in his own personal struggle for survival in an environment that's in rubble, with many of the people around the character without much hope. There's also the theme of sacrifice, like in the other two films in Rossellini's trilogy, and that plus a theme of a sort of helpless hope in human spirit, stays true through the seventy minutes of this film. Highly recommended (the language dubbing practically regardless).

... from UGC and director Roberto Rossellini. In the bombed out ruins of Germany's capital city, the Kohler family struggles to survive. The father (Ernst Pittschau) is sick and bedridden. Eldest son Karl-Heinz (Franz-Otto Kruger) is a former soldier in hiding from the police and unable to work. Daughter Eva (Ingetraud Hinze) goes out at night to try and skim what she can from the soldiers looking for companionship. Which leaves 12-year-old Edmund (Edmund Moeschke) to provide what food he can by working various menial jobs. He eventually falls in with petty criminals, and maybe worse, as the family's situation continues to deteriorate. Also featuring Erich Guhne, Jo Herbst, Christl Merker, and Hans Sangen.

Rossellini closes out his War Trilogy (after 1945's Rome Open City and 1946's Paisan) with this stark look at survival in a former war-zone. The actors are all non-professionals, and it shows, but one gets used to it, and Rossellini does a good job of keeping things within his performers' range. This is now the third film from 1948, following Berlin Express and A Foreign Affair, that I've watched recently that has been set in postwar Germany. Unlike those two, this one doesn't use the country as a backdrop for entertainment. Rather, this is an unflinching look into human misery and deprivation, and not for those looking for a good time. While I like the other two in Rossellini's trilogy more, this is still a very noteworthy, and recommended, film for those with the constitution for it.

This was on Criterion DVD, part of the Roberto Rossellini's War Trilogy box set, containing all 3 films. Each disc has loads of extras pertaining to that particular film, and the Germany Year Zero disc also has a feature-length documentary on Rossellini's life and career. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in the man, his work, or international films of the mid-20th century.

As a child of the post war Berlin ruins myself, I confess this film had a special relevance. But nothing could have prepared me for the sheer impact that Germany Year Zero has upon the soul. Roberto Rosselini captured a tragedy that has been largely ignored and his haunting work screams the pain of post war civilian suffering in Berlin louder than any documentary.

Not only filmed in the very streets where a million died only months before, all those appearing in Stunde Null were quite clearly living the very experience they were enacting. These were not actors. Their performances are clumsy and strained without the polish of professional training or Hollywood editing. But that was the magic of this production. This was not drama but rather a window of reality. Their faces were scarred by the terrors they had just survived and one can only wonder at their courage to enact their own daily suffering for the entertainment of others.

The essence of the plot is simple enough. It is the story of ordinary German civilians trying to survive the starvation and deprivations of 1945 Berlin. The central character is a 12 year old boy, Edmund, who has to endure anything and everything in order to provide for his family. And in the end.....

Well nobody knows what really happened to Edmund Moeschke, the ex Hitler Jugend who was playing himself. After filming the external shots in Berlin the entire cast were taken to Rome in 1946 where the interior scenes were put together. And of course most of them attempted to remain there. Edmund disappeared from history and probably met his end somewhere in the Roman streets. Certainly he has never emerged to claim the accolades that would undoubtedly be poured upon him were he to only mention his name.

But Edmund will never be forgotten because his tragic story touches the soul and speaks for millions of other youngsters who were so cruelly sacrificed in that terrible conflict. This is not a film: it is a masterpiece.

This masterpiece, filmed while the action and subject matter of the film, was at its most intense, is a must see. Featuring non-professional actors, in the neo-realist style which defined post-war Italian cinema, you will experience a lyrical view of Germany, actually devastated Berlin. This is how it was at Hour Zero, or "Anno Zero" when new currency was introduced, and the economy started again from scratch with each German receiving the same (very little) cash to rebuild their lives, and indeed their country. The film has magnificent scenes including the voice of Adolf Hitler coming from a record player among the ruins of the Chancellery, deaths in gutted buildings, and several especially poignant scenes of the young boy who has known nothing but misery during his few years of life, yet continues his fight to survive.

This film was without a doubt one of the most difficult films I have ever seen. The directing is very much Neorealist, and as such presents a very objective view of the devastation in post-war Germany and the lives of the people therein. I experienced what the characters went through, and grew numb and tired of the harsh reality of such a ravaged world right along with them. In the character of Edmund (main character) is presented a dark individual fallen victim to the consequences of war within a country, and as I as the audience witnessed the desperation of his life I was, dare I say, almost forced to disconnect myself from the experience. Disconcerting on a masterful level. I highly recommend this movie to anyone interested in being probed to examine and challenge their natural response to tragedy.