Heavy rain in Bristol today, so I spent the afternoon watching Volker Schlondorff’s The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum (based on the Heinrich Boll novel). For those who don’t know, the film is about what happens to a young woman after she spends the night with a man who turns out to be a terrorist suspect. She is alternately bullied by the police and villified by the gutter press. What is different today, of course, is the way that the blogosphere serves as an Insta-echo-chamber for tabloid coverage of such stories. One imagines the “Heh”s and “Readthewholethings” that would accompany posts linking to a contemporary Die Zeitung’s online coverage of events. (If you’ve not seen the film, don’t be put off by the sole IMDB commenter, who has also posted politically-motived negative reviews of Rabbit-Proof Fence and Bloody Sunday.)
IRRITATED UPDATE: Why is a classic of the New German Cinema available on DVD in Region 1 but not in Region 2 (including the UK and Germany)?
Why is a classic of the New German Cinema available on DVD in Region 1 but not in Region 2 (including the UK and Germany)?
Chris,
Having worked in that business for a while in the 1980’s, I’m guessing it’s a rights issue. I’m guessing that Criterion (which is a company that does a great service by obtaining the rights to these often forgotten and neglected films, then charges an arm and a leg to own them) usually only obtains the USA and Canada rights.
I speculated that it might be a good film for Alexandra Pollier to see.
So why don’t you have a DVD player that plays PAL, NTSC and All Regions?
Mine, a Norcent DP302V, cost me about $50USD and has never failed me. Those damn’ Chinese Commies make it.
But if by “available” you mean FOR SALE in Region 2 - that’s what the WWW is for.
Teeny nit - you might want to correct Boll to Boell.
Or Böll.
At the end of one Böll novel, the protagonist guardedly offered the conviction that some version of socialism should, or must, prevail.
In another story, the protagonist worked for a radio station and collected taped silences. Editing blowhards, he was able to trade pompous euphemism for heartfelt utterance for silence - which he treasured.
If it’s raining over there and you’re having tech problems Chris, I’m sure you could always watch some rugby from Australia ….
Why is a classic of the New German Cinema available on DVD in Region 1 but not in Region 2 (including the UK and Germany)?
I suspect Randy could be correct over the rights thing, but it could just be arseheadedness on the part of R2 DVD distributors. Until Village Roadshow remembered they’d always had the Australian rights to the Australian-made Mad Max, you could only get that film from the US in the American-dubbed version. Ridiculous…
Doesn’t she end up helping the terrorist? Or are we supposd to believe that she only helps him because the cops tick her off?
My whole memory of this film is it’s a complicated moral dilemma not a simple “The cops are bad. Katherina’s being persecuted” story.
It’s about a lonely woman, the attraction of the outlaw, the unsavoury methods of the police, the tabs, choosing what is right, etc. Nothing is clear, which is what makes it a great film.
What Randy said.
And while your at it, change Schlondorff to Schlöndorff.
The context of the film was also deeply personal for Böll. In the early seventies, during which Germany was rocked by a wave of domestic terror mostly at the hands of the terror gang “The Baader-Meinhof Gruppe,” Böll was extremely active in both the political and literary scenes. After Ulrike Meinhof was arrested, Böll wrote an article for Der Spiegel (“Will Ulrike Gnade oder Freies Geleit?”) in which he argued simply that Ulrike should receive a fair trial. That’s it - that’s all he wanted. This didn’t go over well with the Bild-Zeitung (on which “Die Zeitung” in the film is based), which started running cover stories on Böll that equated him with being some kind of father of terrorism. Bild-Zeitung readers are a pretty specific type, the kind of guys who aren’t real big into thinking things out rationally, rather they’re the sort that are interested in “Page 3” girls…. that sort of thing. Anyhow, the Bild-Zeitung’s attack on Böll had quite a few consequences, including having his house trashed by the police who were searching for possible connections between Böll and the RAF (Red-Army-Fraktion).
Chris is essentially right that the film and the book’s primary focus is an indictment of a media that favors spectacle over fact, but what’s really remarkable is the way that the institution of the police, who are supposed to be above the interference of the media, have this completely symbiotic relationship with the reporter, Tötges. It’s that sort of play between the institutions that Böll is really after, I think.
Hey, this is a blog not a scholarly journal. Sometimes I can be bothered to look up the html for o-umlaut and sometimes I can’t - deal with it.
Randy, yes, good call on Alex Polier.
Lily, yes, there is that ambiguity. But remember that he’s a “terrorist suspect” not a terrorist. In the film (can’t find my copy of the book) what he’s actually done is desert from the army and rob the regimental safe.
When I lived in Germany around the same time as the novel, Bild was arguably the most odious rag around. Has it changed at all or is it still pretty awful?
That feller cs is generally under control in his own country. Get him commenting out of Australia and he is evil, pure evil.
Watch rugby indeed.
Just saw now “The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum” and I think it’s a great movie as I spent some time in the Middle East and had some experience with the atmosphere of a blind fear from groups of people waiting to strike at anytime with no consideration of place and time!
Just saw now “The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum” and I think it’s a great movie as I spent some time in the Middle East and had some experience with the atmosphere of a blind fear from groups of people waiting to strike at anytime with no consideration of place and time!
Just saw now “The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum” and I think it’s a great movie as I spent some time in the Middle East and had some experience with the atmosphere of a blind fear from groups of people waiting to strike at anytime with no consideration of place and time!
Just saw now “The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum” and I think it’s a great movie as I spent some time in the Middle East and had some experience with the atmosphere of a blind fear from groups of people waiting to strike at anytime with no consideration of place and time!
It’s my understanding that the idiots using the comments section of IMDB only ruin the film if you don’t click the ‘Check for Other Comments’ link at the bottom. This will almost always can clean the palette by introducting much more tempered and solid information. Most or all of my favorite films are routinely trashed.
À Gauche
Jeremy Alder
Amaravati
Anggarrgoon
Audhumlan Conspiracy
H.E. Baber
Philip Blosser
Paul Broderick
Matt Brown
Diana Buccafurni
Brandon Butler
Keith Burgess-Jackson
Certain Doubts
David Chalmers
Noam Chomsky
The Conservative Philosopher
Desert Landscapes
Denis Dutton
David Efird
Karl Elliott
David Estlund
Experimental Philosophy
Fake Barn County
Kai von Fintel
Russell Arben Fox
Garden of Forking Paths
Roger Gathman
Michael Green
Scott Hagaman
Helen Habermann
David Hildebrand
John Holbo
Christopher Grau
Jonathan Ichikawa
Tom Irish
Michelle Jenkins
Adam Kotsko
Barry Lam
Language Hat
Language Log
Christian Lee
Brian Leiter
Stephen Lenhart
Clayton Littlejohn
Roderick T. Long
Joshua Macy
Mad Grad
Jonathan Martin
Matthew McGrattan
Marc Moffett
Geoffrey Nunberg
Orange Philosophy
Philosophy Carnival
Philosophy, et cetera
Philosophy of Art
Douglas Portmore
Philosophy from the 617 (moribund)
Jeremy Pierce
Punishment Theory
Geoff Pynn
Timothy Quigley (moribund?)
Conor Roddy
Sappho's Breathing
Anders Schoubye
Wolfgang Schwartz
Scribo
Michael Sevel
Tom Stoneham (moribund)
Adam Swenson
Peter Suber
Eddie Thomas
Joe Ulatowski
Bruce Umbaugh
What is the name ...
Matt Weiner
Will Wilkinson
Jessica Wilson
Young Hegelian
Richard Zach
Psychology
Donyell Coleman
Deborah Frisch
Milt Rosenberg
Tom Stafford
Law
Ann Althouse
Stephen Bainbridge
Jack Balkin
Douglass A. Berman
Francesca Bignami
BlunkettWatch
Jack Bogdanski
Paul L. Caron
Conglomerate
Jeff Cooper
Disability Law
Displacement of Concepts
Wayne Eastman
Eric Fink
Victor Fleischer (on hiatus)
Peter Friedman
Michael Froomkin
Bernard Hibbitts
Walter Hutchens
InstaPundit
Andis Kaulins
Lawmeme
Edward Lee
Karl-Friedrich Lenz
Larry Lessig
Mirror of Justice
Eric Muller
Nathan Oman
Opinio Juris
John Palfrey
Ken Parish
Punishment Theory
Larry Ribstein
The Right Coast
D. Gordon Smith
Lawrence Solum
Peter Tillers
Transatlantic Assembly
Lawrence Velvel
David Wagner
Kim Weatherall
Yale Constitution Society
Tun Yin
History
Blogenspiel
Timothy Burke
Rebunk
Naomi Chana
Chapati Mystery
Cliopatria
Juan Cole
Cranky Professor
Greg Daly
James Davila
Sherman Dorn
Michael Drout
Frog in a Well
Frogs and Ravens
Early Modern Notes
Evan Garcia
George Mason History bloggers
Ghost in the Machine
Rebecca Goetz
Invisible Adjunct (inactive)
Jason Kuznicki
Konrad Mitchell Lawson
Danny Loss
Liberty and Power
Danny Loss
Ether MacAllum Stewart
Pam Mack
Heather Mathews
James Meadway
Medieval Studies
H.D. Miller
Caleb McDaniel
Marc Mulholland
Received Ideas
Renaissance Weblog
Nathaniel Robinson
Jacob Remes (moribund?)
Christopher Sheil
Red Ted
Time Travelling Is Easy
Brian Ulrich
Shana Worthen
Computers/media/communication
Lauren Andreacchi (moribund)
Eric Behrens
Joseph Bosco
Danah Boyd
David Brake
Collin Brooke
Maximilian Dornseif (moribund)
Jeff Erickson
Ed Felten
Lance Fortnow
Louise Ferguson
Anne Galloway
Jason Gallo
Josh Greenberg
Alex Halavais
Sariel Har-Peled
Tracy Kennedy
Tim Lambert
Liz Lawley
Michael O'Foghlu
Jose Luis Orihuela (moribund)
Alex Pang
Sebastian Paquet
Fernando Pereira
Pink Bunny of Battle
Ranting Professors
Jay Rosen
Ken Rufo
Douglas Rushkoff
Vika Safrin
Rob Schaap (Blogorrhoea)
Frank Schaap
Robert A. Stewart
Suresh Venkatasubramanian
Ray Trygstad
Jill Walker
Phil Windley
Siva Vaidahyanathan
Anthropology
Kerim Friedman
Alex Golub
Martijn de Koning
Nicholas Packwood
Geography
Stentor Danielson
Benjamin Heumann
Scott Whitlock
Education
Edward Bilodeau
Jenny D.
Richard Kahn
Progressive Teachers
Kelvin Thompson (defunct?)
Mark Byron
Business administration
Michael Watkins (moribund)
Literature, language, culture
Mike Arnzen
Brandon Barr
Michael Berube
The Blogora
Colin Brayton
John Bruce
Miriam Burstein
Chris Cagle
Jean Chu
Hans Coppens
Tyler Curtain
Cultural Revolution
Terry Dean
Joseph Duemer
Flaschenpost
Kathleen Fitzpatrick
Jonathan Goodwin
Rachael Groner
Alison Hale
Household Opera
Dennis Jerz
Jason Jones
Miriam Jones
Matthew Kirschenbaum
Steven Krause
Lilliputian Lilith
Catherine Liu
John Lovas
Gerald Lucas
Making Contact
Barry Mauer
Erin O'Connor
Print Culture
Clancy Ratcliff
Matthias Rip
A.G. Rud
Amardeep Singh
Steve Shaviro
Thanks ... Zombie
Vera Tobin
Chuck Tryon
University Diaries
Classics
Michael Hendry
David Meadows
Religion
AKM Adam
Ryan Overbey
Telford Work (moribund)
Library Science
Norma Bruce
Music
Kyle Gann
ionarts
Tim Rutherford-Johnson
Greg Sandow
Scott Spiegelberg
Biology/Medicine
Pradeep Atluri
Bloviator
Anthony Cox
Susan Ferrari (moribund)
Amy Greenwood
La Di Da
John M. Lynch
Charles Murtaugh (moribund)
Paul Z. Myers
Respectful of Otters
Josh Rosenau
Universal Acid
Amity Wilczek (moribund)
Theodore Wong (moribund)
Physics/Applied Physics
Trish Amuntrud
Sean Carroll
Jacques Distler
Stephen Hsu
Irascible Professor
Andrew Jaffe
Michael Nielsen
Chad Orzel
String Coffee Table
Math/Statistics
Dead Parrots
Andrew Gelman
Christopher Genovese
Moment, Linger on
Jason Rosenhouse
Vlorbik
Peter Woit
Complex Systems
Petter Holme
Luis Rocha
Cosma Shalizi
Bill Tozier
Chemistry
"Keneth Miles"
Engineering
Zack Amjal
Chris Hall
University Administration
Frank Admissions (moribund?)
Architecture/Urban development
City Comforts (urban planning)
Unfolio
Panchromatica
Earth Sciences
Our Take
Who Knows?
Bitch Ph.D.
Just Tenured
Playing School
Professor Goose
This Academic Life
Other sources of information
Arts and Letters Daily
Boston Review
Imprints
Political Theory Daily Review
Science and Technology Daily Review