Director Konrad Wolf shot a very good movie, as usual, though without his habitual screen-play writer Wolfgang Kohlhase. The original drama was written by his father Friedrich Wolf; it had already been turned into a movie in the Soviet Union in 1938, with strong USSR-propaganda features. Unlike this movie. The East-German director tells a fascinating story of resistance against Nazism. The environment and the setting do not act less effectively than the story itself. The plot is set in 1933, when towns are ravaged by Nazi-paramilitary squads, which with their raids comb streets and buildings to find individuals whom they consider inferior and harmful. Among them first of all are the Jews. The movie depicts some figures of the opposition to Nazism, that is to say some communist activists and some common citizens who do not intend to bend their neck to the arrogant one, and to serve Nazi-ideology. In the same sense, we see a professor Mamlock as a staunch opponent of the regime, but on a exclusively humanistic basis unlike his communist son, who resists in a ideological way. His father is no political activist, but nevertheless he opposes with steadiness the principles that the regime wants to lay to everybody. His opposition is straight, fair, distant from any political ulterior motive. An interesting point is that the communists and the professor's son himself are depicted in a slightly shady way, although they are fighting for the just cause. They are rather impulsive, a little fanatical, and act disorderly like in the grip of a fever. Because of this uneasiness they lack of the clear-sighted look and the wisdom of the professor. This contrast deeply affects the relationship between father and son. Konrad Wolf's ability is to represent these views and this opposition in a soft, though clear way, which does not leave room to an allegation of anticommunism. The director seems to plead the cause of humanity, which in his views is the only effective way to oppose to an inhuman regime. It is true that the Nazis are violent and arrogant, but not because of this they can prevail: rather for the acquiescence, the compliance, the cowardice and the expediency of many people. What distinguishes Mamlock from his colleagues is his moral fibre which enables him not to give in, whatever are the consequences. For his colleagues they can be at most dismissal, for him death. All this is represented in a very accurate way: good actors, fluent plot, remarkable black and white cinematography and a technique to learn from. Konrad Wolf was the best East-German director, and one of the kind who never disappoints you.
