The film received mixed reviews and grossed $5.9 million worldwide against a budget of $32 million. In my last column, I described how I have come to better understand the moral problem of the "'good German,' the term used to describe the average, presumably decent German, Share Tweet . 10 of 11 people found this review helpful. by The Barefoot Bum June 18, 2009 The tumultuous early history of the Central Intelligence Agency is viewed through the prism of one man's life. When Lena and Geismer try to hand Emil Brandt over to the American prosecutor charged with handling war crimes cases, they are intercepted by the American authorities who want to protect Bettmann, and Brandt is murdered. The Good German is a 2006 American film adaptation of Joseph Kanon's 2001 novel of the same name. At one point, Lena gives Emil's notes on Camp Dora to Geismer. Based on the Robert Penn Warren novel. The Good German hypnotizes you with it's blend of murder & mystery, action & Intrigue, Romance & lies. “A German was a German, no matter how long they lived among us, no matter how many generations removed from the Fatherland they were.” Excerpt from The Good German. Tweet . Journalist Jake Geismer arrives to cover the Potsdam conference, issued a captain's uniform for easier passage. Identify the many separate and related mysteries that Jake confronts over the course of this narrative. The Good German, the novel by Joseph Kanon, is a first-class thriller that makes some serious points. If you have a love of Historical Fiction then The Good German needs to be on your radar! One of the biggest revelations concerns a question that has always plagued me: How does one explain the “good German,” the term used to describe the average, presumably decent German… They want all the options they can get in the editing room. Each experiences the momentous events of Nazi history as they unfold in their own small lives - Good Germans all. Most of the scenes were shot on soundstages and on Universal Studios' backlot, and were then edited with archival Russian footage and archived film from Corbis. Lena has survived the Holocaust by doing "what she had to" to stay alive — early in the film this is assumed to be prostitution, but Lena, in reality, holds a darker secret of complicity and guilt. [8] It had a worldwide gross of $5,914,908, of which $1,308,696 was in the US, against a $32 million budget. The Good German (2006) Plot Synopsis. Tweet. The Good German soundtrack from 2006, composed by Thomas Newman. I Now Better Understand the 'Good German' By Dennis Prager. Berlin, July, 1945. (2006). Though Steven Soderbergh succeeds in emulating the glossy look of 1940s noirs, The Good German ultimately ends up as a self-conscious exercise in style that forgets to develop compelling characters. [2][unreliable source?]. [1][9], The film was nominated for the Berlin International Film Festival Golden Bear and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score. The Soviets, the Americans, and the British all try to get hold of Emil Brandt, for different reasons. Directed by Steven Soderbergh. The film imitates the appearance of films from Classical Hollywood studio-era. While in post-war Berlin to cover the Potsdam Conference, an American military journalist is drawn into a murder investigation which involves his former mistress and his driver. Germans at the time thought: * I didn't vote for him * most people don't support him * I engaged in some forms of protest Search for "The Good German" on Amazon.com, Title: Or at least a story. A troubled psychologist is sent to investigate the crew of an isolated research station orbiting a bizarre planet. The American CIA agents who relied on the White House legal justification of torture were nothing more than Good Germans. Who is the ‘Good German’? Berlin, July, 1945. Set in Berlin following the Allied victory over the Nazis, it begins as a murder mystery but weaves in elements involving the American postwar employment of Nazi rocket scientists in Operation Paperclip. With George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Tobey Maguire, Beau Bridges. The life of populist Southerner Willie Stark, a political creature loosely based on Governor Huey Long of Louisiana. (Bettmann is only a minor character in the film; he appears to be based on the real Arthur Rudolph.) Apr 22, 2019 - Explore Jennifer's board "The good german" on Pinterest. Jacob witnesses his murdered driver, a black-marketeering American soldier named Tully (Tobey Maguire), being fished from a river eddy, suspiciously adjacent to the Potsdam conference grounds. The site's consensus states: "Though Steven Soderbergh succeeds in emulating the glossy look of 1940s noirs, The Good German ultimately ends up as a self-conscious exercise in style that forgets to develop compelling characters. Screenshot from Twitter, as police raid a … The story is a joke and jumps around all over the place making little sense most of the time, the dialogue is written to match which is to say it's horrible, and even the cinematography that was talked about so much looks little like classic films from the 40s and instead just looks like a generic modern film with some stock footage thrown in.It's one of those films that while watching you just have to wonder why it was even made and how anyone involved thought they were making anything worth while. From Wings to Parasite, here's a look back at all of the Best Picture Oscar winners in the history of the ceremony. The Good German Similar to what Quentin Tarantino accomplished in Death Proof (2007), slyly delivering a quintessential Tarantino talkathon under the guise of an homage to exploitation film sub-genres not known for their textual prowess, Steven Soderbergh remains true to himself in The Good German, a stylized tribute to postwar noir in which style more or less serves as window dressing. . See more ideas about the third reich, world war two, hitler. Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Books and movies are different animals, and a fan is naive to think that the strengths of one can always be translated into the other. The reason they no longer work that way is because it means making choices, real choices, and sticking to them ... That's not what people do now. January 5, 2021 7 min read. Geismer becomes entwined in both the mystery of his murdered driver and the clandestine search by both Soviet and American forces for the missing German Emil Brandt (the title character, played by Christian Oliver). You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. While in post-war Berlin to cover the Potsdam Conference, an American military journalist is drawn into a murder investigation which involves his former mistress and his driver. Joseph Kanon's The Good German is deeply steeped in these hard, serious questions, which serve as background to a complicated romance and a twisty thriller, both centering on American journalist Jake Geismar. The "Good German" syndrome People still blame the Germans for allowing Hitler to do the evil that he did, and in particular for pretending not to see the Holocaust as it occurred around them. 0. WARNING: Spoilers. It has the right mix of action, adventure, mystery, Intrigue & romance. Through a minor character of a Jewish owner of a pawn shop who survived the Holocaust with his legs amputated, the film refers to the Nazi human experimentation, in particular to bone transplantation experiments as they were done at the Ravensbrück concentration camp. In the film, Emil Brandt is a former SS officer who had been the secretary of Franz Bettmann, Chief Production Engineer of the V-2 rocket at concentration camp Mittelbau-Dora/Mittelwerk. Written by The color was then reduced in post-production through the use of a digital intermediate to a grainier black and white, in order to blend with the carefully restored archival material. A sexually repressed woman's husband is having an affair with her sister. The corpse is discovered to be in possession of 50,000 German reichsmarks — which are later revealed to have been printed by the U.S occupying forces. Like Todd Haynes' gorgeous Douglas Sirk homage Far From Heaven, Steven Soderbergh's experimental drama The Good German isn't merely an attempt to pay tribute to Hollywood's past, but to recreate it as meticulously as possible. In addition, the title is an allusion to the phrase common among soldiers of the Allied Powers during the invasion of Europe after D-Day, that "The only good German is a dead German" — and the consequences of this death are seed for all that follows in the story of the film. - Ellen Keith, bestselling author of The Dutch Wife “An astonishing concept that speaks directly to our current affairs.” - Leon Rooke, author of House on Major Street [7], The film made $76,817 in its opening weekend in five US theaters. A career bank robber breaks out of jail, and shares a moment of mutual attraction with a U.S. At least we still have tools short of violence but they want us cut off from other humans and under the heel of their dual power centers, government and corporations, so who knows how long that will last. Was this review helpful to you? [3][4] As of June 2020[update], the film holds a 34% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 152 reviews with an average rating of 5.04/10. Set in Berlin following the Allied victory over the Nazis, it begins as a murder mystery but weaves in elements involving the American postwar employment of Nazi rocket scientists in Operation Paperclip. The film includes some gun violence and fisticuffs, a little sex and a lot of raw language. The Good German received generally mixed reviews, with many critics complaining that it was too reliant on style and did not concentrate on the building of characters. These decisions, combined with the limited coverage, allowed the rough cut to be produced in two days after wrapping up filming.[1]. Journalist Jake Geismer arrives to cover the Potsdam conference, issued a captain's uniform for easier passage. What language besides English do you most watch movies in. When the body of a murdered man washes up in Potsdam (within the Russian sector), Jake may be the only person who wants to solve the crime: U.S. personnel are busy finding Nazis to bring to trial, the Russians and the Americans are looking for German rocket scientists, and Lena has her own secrets. Thomas Newman on ‘Let Them All Talk’s’ atypical music: ‘The score’s not doing what it would normally do’ [Exclusive Video Interview], Production Details on Steven Soderbergh-Directed Films. "Good Germans" is a term referring to German citizens during and after World War II who claimed not to have supported the Nazi regime, but remained silent and did not resist in a meaningful way. When the body of a murdered man washes up in Potsdam (within the Russian sector), Jake may be the only person who wants to solve the crime: U.S. personnel are busy finding Nazis to bring to trial, the Russians and the Americans are looking for German rocket scientists, and Lena has her own secrets. Geismar arrives in Berlin to cover the Potsdam Conference, but he's not new to the city. Dennis Prager - 24 Tevet 5781 – January 8, 2021. [1], The set lighting was entirely incandescent and the audio was recorded on a boom mike instead of the more modern body mikes or ADR. In the film, they are fully aware of Bettmann's role at Camp Dora and know about the slave labor used in the V-2 program, but want to cover up his involvement (because they could not lawfully employ a known war criminal), which includes eliminating Emil Brandt, whose testimony or written notes would prevent their whitewashing of Bettmann. “The Good German” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). The DVD release presents the film in the 1.33:1 aspect ratio which declined in use from about 1953, though the theatrical release, and other DVD Releases, used the slightly more modern but still unusual 1.66:1 ratio. A politically charged epic about the state of the oil industry in the hands of those personally involved in and affected by it. What is the good German to do, all by themselves and without any help? Lolita Ritmanis’ ‘Blizzard of Souls’ Score: An Oscar Long Shot? Wernher von Braun). The Good German is a thrilling historical mystery, with a gripping underlying psychological exploration. View production, box office, & company info. He discovers that the driver he's assigned, a cheerful down-home sadist named Corporal Tully, is Lena's keeper. Jacob "Jake" Geismer (George Clooney), an American war correspondent for The New Republic, returns to Berlin during the Potsdam negotiations between the Allied powers after World War II was over in Europe (May 1945) but before hostilities ended in Asia (August 1945). The Good German is one of the best returns to the 1940s style of film-noir. An extremely volatile and dangerous Englishman goes to Los Angeles to find the man he considers responsible for his daughter's death. In 1956, Ernesto 'Che' Guevara and a band of Castro-led Cuban exiles mobilize an army to topple the regime of dictator Fulgencio Batista. Filmed entirely in the style of such Hollywood classics as Casablanca, The Good German was shot by director Steven Soderbergh (under the pseudonym Peter Andrews) using 1940s era lenses, sound-recording techniques, and a decidedly less-mobile camera. [10][11], "The Good German: Who says they don't make 'em like they used to? [6], Peter Travers of Rolling Stone greatly appreciated the film. Its poster is a homage to the poster for the classic film Casablanca (1942, also a Warner Bros. film), as is the closing scene at an airport. Despite this act of heroism colossal negative consequences are set in … The Good German (2006) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Now I'll admit that I'm not a Soderberg fan and don't even like his highly regarded films such as Sex,Lies and Video Tape or Traffic, but that isn't to say that I'll hate a film simply because his name is attached to it.My hate for this film has do to with the screenplay, Direction, and just all around poor poor film making that went into it. The arrival of a visitor with a rather unusual fetish changes everything. He discovers that the driver he's assigned, a cheerful down-home sadist named Corporal Tully, is Lena's keeper. Who knows what American journalist Jake Geismer (George Clooney) expected to find in postwar Berlin? The U.S. government decides to go after an agro-business giant with a price-fixing accusation, based on the evidence submitted by their star witness, vice president-turned-informant Mark Whitacre. Director Steven Soderbergh said: that kind of staging is a lost art, which is too bad. The Americans have already detained Bettmann in a safehouse and intend to transport him to the U.S. as part of their Operation Overcast/Paperclip to have him work on their own rocket program (cf. In 1967, Ernesto 'Che' Guevara leads a small partisan army to fight an ill-fated revolutionary guerrilla war in Bolivia, South America. Rated R for language, violence and some sexual content. But Geismer still has Brandt's notebooks, which he now trades in to the war crimes investigators of the U.S. Army (who have turned out to be in league with the other American authorities — the ones who want to keep that evidence confidential to whitewash Bettmann) in exchange for a Persilschein (a denazification document) and a visa for Lena, such that she can leave Germany. It's one of those films that matter so little that they won't even be remembered for how bad they were but will instead be forgotten.And don't even get me started on the Casablanca references. Peace, maybe. It was directed by Steven Soderbergh, and stars George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, and Tobey Maguire. His typically smart, dispassionate, … Thematically, the film centers on guilt, and whether it is possible to survive the atrocities while being unaware of and not complicit in them. Unlike modern films that are shot with significant "coverage" and mostly with close-ups or two shots, The Good German was shot with 1940s era wide angle lenses, such as a 32 mm, with deep focus, "strongly accented camera angles" and entire scenes staged. A- A+ . Although the finished film is in black and white, it was shot in color because this allowed the use of faster film than available black-and-white film stocks, and afforded the ability to use 'green screen' techniques. Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Get a sneak peek of the new version of this page. Broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow looks to bring down Senator Joseph McCarthy. ", "The Good German (2006) - Weekend Box Office Results", Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Not Back to the Future, but Ahead to the Past, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Good_German&oldid=1002860384, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles lacking reliable references from July 2015, Articles containing potentially dated statements from June 2020, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 26 January 2021, at 10:39. Use the HTML below. The Good German, the movie by Steven Soderbergh, isn't and doesn't. Good German A citizen of Nazi Germany who participated in or overlooked atrocities while denying personal moral responsibility by appeal to his submission to supposedly legitimate authority. One of the biggest revelations concerns a question that has always plagued me: How does one explain the “good German,” the term used to describe the average, presumably decent German, who did nothing to hurt Jews but also did nothing to help them and did nothing to undermine the Nazi regime? A thoughtful, complex film, The Good German is Steven Soderbergh's latest expansion of stylistic and thematic boundaries. In terms of its literary genre, The Good German is a thriller, a novel of intrigue meant to engage its readers by way of a plot full of questions, clues, riddles, leads, red herrings, and so forth. He also wants to find Lena, an old flame who's now a prostitute desperate to get out of Berlin. Kanon presents the struggle for German rocket scientists, Americans versus Russians, with both sides desperate to enhance their own post-war technology and neither concerned about the Nazi past and practices of the men they are seeking. The Good German is a compelling and thought-provoking story that's remarkably relevant for our times." Op-Ed Dennis Prager: I Now Better Understand The ‘Good German’ Posted on January 7, 2021 January 7, 2021 by DianCecht in Culture , History , Morning Thread , News , … Share . By. The six are not seen in isolation but as part of their families: a brother and sister; a wife; a father with three children; an only son; the parents of a Communist pioneer daughter. He also wants to find Lena, an old flame who's now a prostitute desperate to get out of Berlin. One of the biggest revelations concerns a question that has always plagued me: How does one explain the "good German," the term used to describe the average, presumably decent German… The Good German- Well I don't know how else to put this besides, this film sucked. I Now Better Understand. 9. Good Germans is an ironic term — usually placed between single quotes such as 'Good Germans' — referring to German citizens during and after World War II who claimed not to have supported the Nazi regime, but remained silent and did not resist in a meaningful way. It was directed by Steven Soderbergh, and stars George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, and Tobey Maguire. The Good German is a 2006 American film adaptation of Joseph Kanon's 2001 novel of the same name. Marshal he has kidnapped. A clip from the movie "The Good German" featuring Cate Blanchett and Tobey Maguire. He becomes more involved in both mysteries as his investigation intersects with his search for Lena Brandt (Cate Blanchett), a Jew — and Emil's wife — with whom Geismer had been in a relationship prior to the war. Shot in black and white, the movie focuses on the moral and political dilemmas emerging from the Potsdam Peace Conference, where, an epigraph asserts, Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, and Josef Stalin gathered to "draw the postwar map." Set against the backdrop of a decaying Midwestern town, a murder becomes the focal point of three people who work in a doll factory. Kanon also brilliantly captures the atmosphere of distrust between the allies and civilian population, and you can verify the book's key elements of the occupation on the US Nationals Archives website (which is fascinating). I Now Better Understand the 'Good German' By Dennis Prager Jan 05, 2021 12:01 AM ET . Share on Facebook. Geismer, in his attempts to get his former lover, Lena, out of Berlin, gets more and more involved in the search for Emil Brandt. Jacob "Jake" Geismar (George Clooney), an American war correspondent, returns to Berlin during the Potsdam negotiations between the Allied powers after World War II is over in Europe but before hostilities end in Asia. A fantastic book, The Good German brings to life a seldom written about period in post-war history in a way that leaves you feeling like you've actually been there. Check out our editors' picks for the movies and shows we're excited about this month, like Mortal Kombat, "Them," and Stowaway. The film was shot in black-and-white and is designed to imitate the appearance of film noir from the 1940s, although it also includes material – such as sex scenes and swearing – that would have been prohibited by the Production Code. In November of 1939 a German anti-facist named Georg Elser is successful in the assassination of Adolf Hitler. Released by Varese Sarabande in 2007 (302 066 781 2) containing music from The Good German (2006). 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