학술논문
14 Die Flucht (The Flight), Roland Gräf, 1977
Document Type
Book
Author
Source
States of danger and deceit: The European political thriller in the 1970s. :136-147
Subject
Language
Abstract
Die Flucht is an unusual film, made at an unusual time, in an unusual place, under unusual circumstances. An unusual film in that it is about a successful doctor who is looking to flee the German Democratic Republic (GDR) to begin a new life in West Germany, and made at an unusual time because in the late 1970s, Warsaw Pact countries tended not to make films about the potential failings of their own political systems. From a contemporary perspective, this made East Germany possibly the last place one would expect such a film to be made. The 1970s in the GDR were rather different to the late 1980s when the country was sliding towards extinction. In fact, the 1970s were different across Central and Eastern Europe in a manner that is rarely considered in retrospect. It was a period when Eric Honecker was viewed as a liberal, moderate voice by the West, having replaced Walther Ulbricht as General Secretary of the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED, Socialist Unity Party of Germany) in May 1971. His Romanian counterpart, Nicolae Ceaușescu, was similarly viewed; successive US Presidents Nixon and Ford had been to visit Romania, each hoping it could be turned into an ally against the Soviet Union were a third global conflict to break out.
In the 1970s, the ideological turmoil that marked the late 1960s and led to events such as May ’68 gave way to a more strident politics that involved stark contrasts between left and right. During this period, those within the establishment and those without seemed willing to act with violence to force the changes they sought for society. In response to this political moment, a number of European filmmakers turned to the format of the thriller as they sought to explore conspiracies, authoritarian regimes and political violence. States of Danger and Deceit: The European Political Thriller in the 1970s places key films (Z (1969), The Mattei Affair (1972), State of Siege (1972), The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum (1975), Illustrious Corpses (1976)) and filmmakers (Costa-Gavras, Elio Petri, Francesco Rosi, Volker Schlöndorff) from across Europe into their historical political and social contexts before considering the ways they have impacted upon politically engaged filmmakers since.
In the 1970s, the ideological turmoil that marked the late 1960s and led to events such as May ’68 gave way to a more strident politics that involved stark contrasts between left and right. During this period, those within the establishment and those without seemed willing to act with violence to force the changes they sought for society. In response to this political moment, a number of European filmmakers turned to the format of the thriller as they sought to explore conspiracies, authoritarian regimes and political violence. States of Danger and Deceit: The European Political Thriller in the 1970s places key films (Z (1969), The Mattei Affair (1972), State of Siege (1972), The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum (1975), Illustrious Corpses (1976)) and filmmakers (Costa-Gavras, Elio Petri, Francesco Rosi, Volker Schlöndorff) from across Europe into their historical political and social contexts before considering the ways they have impacted upon politically engaged filmmakers since.