La tenerezza del lupo

Based on the true story of Fritz Haarman who was a serial killer who preyed on young men and boys between the wars, this is a repositioning of the time line to be just after World War II in a devastated Germany. He was a man who had come under the watch of the Police but they chose to keep him as informant rather than look into his more nefarious habits.

He sells 'meat' on the black market and his visits are eagerly awaited by his customers. At night he patrols the local train station and helps out waifs and strays – some of them he takes under his wing and brings them back to his attic room. There the neighbours start to complain about the ungodly noises that emanate from the loft long into the wee hours of the German night.

Now this is deeply chilling and has scenes that will stay with you. The nasty bits are far from gratuitous but they have more of an impact because of that. Openly gay he lusts after Hans who is the German equivalent of a 'Spiv' and equally as loathsome. The lighting is just brilliant too, adding to the eerie atmosphere and the squalid detritus of post war life. Rainer Werner Fassbinder puts in an on screen appearance too – which is just cinematic gravy as far as I am concerned. The actual transfer by Arrow Video is really high quality too and it feels as if this could have been made a few years ago and not in 1973 as indeed it was. A great and worthy film to have some new life breathed into it.

Fritz Haarman-the infamous "Butcher of Hanover" was one of the worst serial killers in the recent history.During five years(1919-1924)with the help of his homosexual partner Hans Grans he butchered nearly fifty youths.Their method was always the same:they enticed a youth from railway station back to Haarman's room,Haarman killed him(according to his account by biting his throat)and the boy's body was dismembered and sold as meat.His clothes were sold,and the useless(i.e. uneatable)body parts were thrown into the river Leine.Haarman was sentenced to death,Grans to twelve years in jail.Ulli Lommel's "The Tenderness of Wolves" is a realistic portrayal of this notorious killer.It's brilliantly acted,psychologically disturbing and almost completely non-violent.Definitely a must-see!

Tenderness of the Wolf (1973) is an excellent film about a serial killer living in war torn Germany. Fritz Haarman was a pedophile psychopath who lived during WWI Germany (the time period in the movie was moved up to WWII). Ulli Lommel's style of directing was a nod to Fritz Lang and the other German expressionist filmmakers of the the 20's and 30's. Beware, I must warn you that this film has some strong adult content matter that most people will find repulsing. But those who are open minded will find this movie an interesting and honest portrait of a madman. Lommel and Kurt Raab (who also wrote the screenplay) portray Fritz Haarman as a tortured soul who can never truly express himself or convey his emotions. In his twisted mind he sees no harm in what he does. Several Fassbinder stock players have supporting and minor roles in this picture including Fassbinder (he cameos as a real shady slug). Kurt Raab does an excellent character study of one of Germany's most notorious serial killers.

Highly recommended (if you can stomach the content).

Back in the early 70's, when his name wasn't yet a synonym for insufferably crappy hand-held camera horror stuff, Ulli Lommel actually was quite the promising and visionary young (barely 29 years old) director in his home country Germany. The powerful impact of "The Tenderness of Wolves" alone is already more than enough evidence to back up this statement. This is a thoroughly unsettling and disturbing drama/horror hybrid based on the true facts in the case of one of the most notorious European criminal figures of the previous century. Fritz Haarmann was a German pedophile and serial killer of young adolescent males during the Interbellum period and made nearly 30 victims in only five years of time. Haarmann makes his money by trades food and goods on the black market that he himself falsely confiscated by pretending to be a policeman. This is also how he picks up young lads in the train station and lures them to his apartment loft. Uncle Fritz probes for homeless boys and eventually murders them by biting their throats; which gave him the nickname "The Vampire of Hanover". The atrocities became even more inhuman when Fritz, together with his lover/partner-in-crime Hans Grans, sold the hacked up flesh of the victims on the black market. "The Tenderness of Wolves" is definitely not an overly graphical or tasteless film, but the subject matter is sickening and the whole portrayal of pedophilia is beyond disturbing. Haarmann pretty openly declares his affection for young boys and his entire surrounding either deliberately ignores this or even considers it to be the most common thing in the world. Only his neighbor from the apartment below suspects his psychopathic tendencies and attempts to alert the authorities, but that fails as Haarmann actually had connections with the police where he worked as a "rat".

The sequences in which Haarmann is intimate with his victims are extremely discomforting, but at the same time they make the film all the more powerful and hauntingly realistic. It seems unthinkable in this modern day and age, but it was so easy for twisted perverts to pick up unsuspecting and youthful victims. Especially in times of poverty and despair, like the case in Germany between the two World Wars. Every time Haarmann comes near a boy, you can already assume the poor kid's fate is sealed, like the runaway drifter at the railway station or the boy at the carnival. Whenever he approaches a kid, your skin is guaranteed to crawl, because his voice is so stern and despicable. "The Tenderness of Wolves" also benefices from a more than decent re-creation of the depressing era and – of course – the incredibly brilliant and courageous performance of lead actor/writer Kurt Raab. He truly depicts Fritz Haarmann exactly like an emotionless and depraved monster ought to be depicted. This certainly isn't a film that is suitable for all tastes (and even the most hardened cult fanatics need to feel in a certain state of mind to watch it), but it's undeniably a unique experience and easily one of the top five most unpleasant yet fascinating things I ever watched. Moreover, after witnessing the unforgettable tour-de-force accomplishment that is "The Tenderness of Wolves", it's all the more difficult to accept that Ulli Lommel is nowadays directing junk entitled "Zombie Nation", "Diary of a Cannibal" or "BTK Killer".

I found this film to be more interesting than I expected. The film, to me, is clearly not meant to be a historic film about Fritz Haarmann. There is a line in the film that makes a reference to the Nazi's (their rise to power wasn't until nine years after Haarmann's execution) and how difficult life is for everyone in post-war Germany. The character of Fritz Haarmann was used as a metaphor for the German people "cannabalizing" each other just to survive. The costumes, language, and vehicles also seemed to be of a later decade. Much like Werner Herzog's "The Enegma of Kaspar Hauser", "Tenderness of the Wolves" uses a real historical figure (taken with some liberties) as a criticism of society as a whole. Having said that, the film is not particularly outstanding in any way. The concept is interesting, and contains the leading actors of Fassbinder's "Ali: Fear Eats the Soul", as well as Fissbinder himself. Still, I would have to say the film is only slightly above average; both as a Fassbinder film and the German New Wave.