Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer

I have watched other (better) films about the search and/or the capture of Adolph Eichmann. I should have known from the title that this film has very little to do with Eichmann. It is mostly about being homosexual in Germany during that time period. One of the characters is complete fiction, created in order to focus on homosexuality. Additionally, the movie presents untruths regarding various governments. If you're looking for a movie about how difficult it was to be gay in Germany in the 50's you will enjoy this movie. If you are looking to see history, look elsewhere, like the historically accurate "Operation Finale".

At first sigh, another confrontation against past. correct, well acted, impecable script, wise thriller. in essence, a film about politic. its rules and shadow and solutions. more important, a film about duty. and patriotism. and the price for a option defining a life. the delicate equilibrium is the lead virtue of this admirable film . remarkable for the fine portraits and for the exploration of the birth of shadows. a film about chavalery in old sense. and about vulnerabilities as basic ingredient of challenges. short, a biographic film who, for its splendid manner to use the elements of story, propose profound senses of an event, reality and the right form of duty assume.

"The People vs. Fritz Bauer" is the story of one man's determination to bring Adolf Eichmann to Germany for trial, and the opposition to it that he faced.

Fritz Bauer was a district attorney in Hessen, Germany, and the story begins really toward the end of his life. He is shown drowning in his bathtub at the beginning, but he is saved. In reality, that is how he died in 1968.

Bauer was a man who did what he had to do in order to achieve his ends, and the movie makes no bones about it. He keeps quiet about the fact that he is Jewish because of his determination to enter politics. And he commits treason in order to bring Eichmann to justice. His part in that capture was not made public until 10 years after his death.

Unfortunately for Bauer, in 1957, the government was filled with ex- Nazis and SS officers who didn't want these monsters tried and naming names. There was a lot of resistance and anti-Semitism. When Bauer learns that Eichmann is living in Argentina, he has to appeal to Massad for help - a treasonous offense if anyone found out.

There is a subplot concerning his young associate, State Attorney Angermann, a fictional character.

Very good movie, with wonderful acting by Burghart Klaußner as Bauer and Ronald Zehrfeld as Angermann.

"The People vs. Fritz Bauer" (2015 release from Germany; 105 min., original title "Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer") brings the dramatic retelling of the circumstances within which Hesse Attorney General Bauer prosecuted former Nazis in post- WWII Germany. As the movie opens, we are reminded it is "Frankfurt in the late 1950s", and we get to know Fritz Bauer. In the opening scene he almost drowns in his bath tub (an accidental overdose of sleeping pills, it turns out). But the incident has caused concern with others. One of Bauer's State Attorneys (i.e. more junior prosecutor) invites Bauer to the country side. "Do you like to hunt?" he asks, to which Bauer replies "Yes, but not animals", ha! Indeed Bauer is working feverishly to track down Adolf Eichmann. At this point we're 15 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: first, this is NOT a bio-pic of Fritz Bauer. Indeed, we get little to no background information as to his life prior to 1957 or after 1960 (starting and closing points of the movie). In a way, this is unfortunate, as an unsuspecting viewer may not fully realize the importance of this man in German politics. Second, the movie's central theme that "the people" or "the state" (as the original German title reads) is against Bauer is somewhat misleading. It's really the German political establishment, which was riddled at the time with former Nazis, which tries to stifle Bauer's efforts. This theme was something of a taboo in Germany for decades following WWII. Just last year there was another German movie, also involving Bauer, called "Labyrinth of Lies", which also addressed this. Thirdly, strictly from a film viewing perspective, the production is rather "dry" and at times it feels like watching a European TV drama. But I nevertheless enjoyed it quite a bit. Last, the movie also spends quite a bit of time looking at one of Bauer's closest aides, State Attorney Angermann. At the end of the movie, there are some announcements about what became of Bauer. But inexplicably nothing is said about what became of Angermann. Not sure how that could've happened (and leading me to deduct one further star from my overall rating).

"The People vs. Fritz Bauer" opened this weekend without any pre-release advertising or hype at my local art-house theatre here in Cincinnati. The Tuesday early evening screening where I saw this at was not attended well (1 person besides myself), which is a shame. Hopefully this is the type of movie that will find a larger audience once it gets exposure on Amazon Instant Video, and eventually is released on DVD/Blu-ray. If you are in the mood for a true historical drama about an important episode of German politics post -WWII, I can readily recommend that you check this out.

Up to the present day Germany is uncomfortable with playing a major role in World politics. This uneasyness is attributable to the atrocities of the Second World War almost 80 years ago. It is hard to imagine that from mid 1950 to mid 1960, that is in the period of "das Wirtschaftswunder" just after the Second World War, Germany tried very hard to forget the past and look the other way. Only when the generation of the "baby boomers" began to ask their parents difficult questions in the second half of the sixties this period of silence game to an end.

In mid 2010 two films were made about this period of silence. First in 2014 "Im Labyrinth des Schweigens" (Giulio Ricciarelli) and a year later "Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer" (Lars Kraume). The first film is about the preparation for the "Auschwitz trial" in the first half of the 60's. "Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer" is about the hunt for Adold Eichmann in teh second half of the 50's.

The two films are interrelated. "Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer" can be seen as the prequel to "Das Labyrinth des Schweigens" because Fritz Bauer is in this film the boss of Johann Radmann (the main character).

In "Das Labyrinth des Schweigens" the silence is mostly passive (looking in the other direction) and the young main character is taken by surprise by it. In "Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer" the silence is more active (consciously sparing war criminals, however not going that far and being that organized as described in "The ODESSA file" from Frederick Forsyth). Fritz Bauer is experienced enough to be very aware of this active resistance. He knows that priorities have shifted from the Second World War to the Cold war. Statements of a war criminal in court could well form a political risk for the young state of West Germany. It's no coincidence that Fritz Bauer has more confidence in the Israeli Mossad than in his own colleagues to catch Eichmann!

Fritz Bauer is played by Burghart Klaussner, an experenced actor who played for example also in "The white ribbon" (2009, Michael Haneke). He does an excellent job. He plays Bauer partly as a sort of grumpy old man, bit like inspector Frost.