Colonel Redl

The second of director Istvan Szabo's collaborations with actor Klaus Maria Brandauer (I have also watched the first, MEPHISTO [1981, but not the third, HANUSSEN [1988]) is a well-mounted and stately production, typically meticulous and thought-provoking, highlighting the actor's towering leading performance. Once again examining the country's history at the time of a major upheaval (the eve of WWI) and with Brandauer - very ably inhabiting every facet of his complex role - giving another subtle, compelling portrayal of misjudged pride and the shameful exposure (thankfully, the homosexual angle of the plot is barely stressed) at the hands of the regime he had devoted his life to serving.

This film evokes powerfully the period and place in which it is set. Its plot is both interesting and intelligent. The acting is of the highest calibre; both Klaus Maria Brandauer and Gudrun Landgrebe are both world class artists. Viewers should see more German film. This is a stunning piece of work by a director of great insight and ability.

At the 1986 OSCAR awards, the Austrian actor Klaus Maria BRANDAUER had his big evening: he was nominated for his supporting role in OUT OF AFRICA and COLONEL REDL (with him in the title role) was in the OSCAR for best foreign language film. Both trophies went into other hands, but that in no way diminishes the importance of COLONEL REDL.

Ostensibly, it's about a spy story in the already ailing imperial-royal Danube monarchy of Austria-Hungary ("Kakania"). But the real subject is Colonel Redl as a typical Kakanian who suppresses his own feelings, crouches upwards and kicks downwards. A star role for Klaus MAria BRANDAUER, who filmed MEPHISTO (OSCAR-winning) and HANUSSEN in the 1980s with director Istvan SZABO. Gudrun LANDGREBE (THE FLAMBED WOMAN) and Jan NIKLAS (GOLDEN GLOBE for ANASTASIA (mini-series)) shine as a relaxed, fluffy sibling pair. Although Colonel Redl is courting Baroness Katalin, he secretly likes her attractive brother Kristof. Yes, such a Kakanian subject had a hard time! Hans Christian BLECH and Armin MUELLER-STAHL (OSCAR nomination for SHINE) can be seen in other roles as heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand.

The film is worth seeing, but also old-fashioned in the best sense. Even when I first watched it in the 1980s, it seemed a bit out of time, but that fits well with the plot. Even back then it was like a homage to good German-language films from the 1950s, albeit with more explicit sex scenes! The film SPIONAGE by Franz ANTEL, released in 1955 and also starring GOLDEN GLOBE winner Oskar WERNER, deals with the same story.

The film, which was awarded the GOLDEN GLOBE and the BAFTA, attracted 251,646 visitors (source: InsideKino) to West German cinemas in 1985.

Brandauer again shows why reviews of his work often include the word 'magnetic' - You just don't take your eyes off him. His range is remarkable, his control of the minutest gesture superb, the subtlety of his physical screen presence majestic.

Szabo's direction is again precise but not heavy handed. If this doesn't have quite the sweep or sting in the tail of their previous collaboration, Mephisto, it is still one of the finest European films of its time.

The story is superbly crafted; to leave Muller-Stahl's Archduke Franz Ferdinand out until the last hour or so is an outstanding narrative technique, and if Muller-Stahl's performance is a trifle one-note, that's as much due to narrative constraint as actor ability - he's still pretty effective, and its one of his best roles.

Szabo has an ability to investigate history in a curiously personal and touching sense of the individual, but leaving that individual dispassionately, and gazing at him objectively; thus what comes across is a really detailed and involving character struggling against an incredible force of inevitability. Like Visconti, broad strokes, but painted in the minutest of details - only unlike Visconti, full blooded and direct.

It's at times witty, literate and touching, but always beautiful.

"Colonel Redl" (German, 1984): Starring Klaus Marie Brandauer, directed by Istvan Szabo. This is the second film of a trilogy. (The first, "Mephisto", the third, "Hanussen" I do not own, but will try to find for rental.) Here we are in Germany again, but before WWI. A young man decides that the only way to raise himself from his peasant roots is to enter the aristocratic military world – and is willing to do anything to get in, stay in, and advance in. This he does, but there's always The Price. He slowly loses those things and people which held any meaning or joy for him. He finds himself an amateur in a world that is completely Darwinian, and long-practiced in the art of manipulation. Like "Mephisto", the ladder climber seems to reach spectacular heights, only to be tossed down when it most serves those who were never out of control. These films of Szabo start light, start fluffy, and slowly change into foreboding, evil, hopeless stories with NO optimism towards the human spirit, organized groups of humans, or Time being a teacher. They are very insightful essays on these subjects.