franzekafky The work of V. Schlöndorff and M. von Trotta deserves high praises, especially because of their ability to overcome the certain difficulties confronted whilst adapting a work of literature into a cinematic piece, or: from one branch of art (in)to another. To give a small example, Heinrich Böll's book adopts a first-person-plural-view/narration whereas the film refrains from this approach; the essence of a documentary such an approach provides, however, can be grasped instantaneously in the film, too. Being successful on most aspects, The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum suffers from its shortness. 106 mins. have been cleverly used by the directors, mostly by delivering the spectators what ought to be delivered essentially, but they fail in providing the links and some necessary depths to the characters and/or relations. An additional 15 minutes could have helped the directors to grave both their and the film's name deeper and in larger fonts. I, for one, found the most fascinating part of the film to be shot in 1975: a year in which Ulrike M. Meinhof, Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, and Jan-Carl Raspe still lives; Holger Meins recently died of hunger(!); the West Germany is yet to experience what they term as The German Autumn by the 2nd generation RAF; the 1st gen. RAF members (leading members above) have not been tried yet by the time the book was published (maybe even by the time the film screened); the West Germany Police getting increasingly armed and offensive, and so on. Among all these, we witness the "system" founding and feeding itself -- as a matter of fact, nothing but its own self. The police, the officials, still prevalent pro-Nazism, and still-in-power former Nazis, the media, the social status, abuse, and oppression of the women... With the system ruling, firmly administering, and when necessary, fabricating all these tools, factors, manipulating the people, the viewer gains an insight into the closed loop that the person is trapped in. Seemingly, there is not a(n easy) way out; the ones leading to a hazy light turn out to be dead-ends. And here, the viewer begins to understand what the title really means, and how subtly it is the (condensed) narrative (of) itself. These elements, pertaining to a "tightly-screwed" state system, all exist in the film but require a keen eye to catch them, let alone pondering on, given the length of the film. Despite its shortness, I believe that the adequate use of dialogues (even though sometimes they sound like irrelevant) and inconstant voices of characters, minute attention to decorations every here and there, Angela Winkler close-ups and her mimics, ... will convince the spectators that the directors pulled a good job, having come up with a worthy work.

mdm-11 This is one of a handful of German productions of the 1970s critically acclaimed by world cinema. "Die verlorene Ehre der Katerina Blum" tells of the seemingly innocent love affair of a young woman with a man who turns out to be a fugitive bank robber. Twisting and turning the story to make it more "readable" a tabloid reporter shamelessly destroys the woman's reputation, even leading to her arrest as an "accomplice" to the crimes committed by her "boyfriend".The film shows in detail how the situation impacts many people, including Katerina's employers, neighbors, family memebers. All speak highly of her, yet the newspapers always manage to print distorted facts, embellishments and outright lies. The ending, though unexpected and shocking, will satisfy the viewer, who by now completely empathises with the title character who had been "railroaded" by the press for no other purpose than to sell more papers. A five star classic.

Prof_Lostiswitz Angela Winkler totally dominates this movie, and it could scarcely function without her acting skills. She is at once reserved and sensuous, in a way that suggests a deeply spiritual person. It comes as no surprise that her character was educated in a convent and is jokingly called "the nun" by her friends. Quite possibly she might have entered holy orders, and she still keeps up contact with the "Cloister" she remembers so fondly. Anyhow, Katharina is now a housemaid working for a kind lawyer and his wife, after a failed marriage to a dork. Somehow, though, she manages to have a fancy apartment and a Porsche, something that will cause her much grief later on. She gets invited to a party in progress by a bunch of her friends; she is reluctant to go, but finally accepts. This is during Carnival, similar to Halloween, so most people are dressed in outrageous costumes and partying wildly. The demure Katharina seems out of place here, until she meets a kind young man (not in costume) who treats her with tenderness and respect quite different from the boozers. It's love at first sight, Katharina is overwhelmed for the first time ever - love at first sight. They go off and spend the night in her apartment.SPOILERS The next morning all hell breaks loose, as a SWAT team bursts into her apartment looking for the guy, who by then is gone. We have known there's something odd about him, as we've seen him, at the beginning of the film, framed in the cross-hairs of a movie-camera (a brilliant touch reminiscent of Peeping Tom) and seen him throw off a pursuer in an exciting car chase. It turns out the police think he is a dangerous international terrorist; worse still, they think the pure and delicate Katharina is his long-standing accomplice in terror. She is now plunged into utter hell, not so much from the police interrogation (which is bad enough), but from the attentions of the gutter-press, which uses distortions and outright lies to destroy her reputation in the eyes of the gullible populace, with much co-operation from the police. (As she's being escorted to the police station, the cops grab her hair in order to make her face twist in pain, thus the press-photos get to show her as "vicious". END SPOILERS I am struck by how much this film resembles Town Without Pity (1961), which was also set in Germany, with Christine Kaufmann playing a role similar to Katharina Blum; it must surely have been a major influence on Schlondorff. Kafka's The Trial also comes to mind. Another influence must have been the paintings of James Ensor, eg "The Entry of Christ into Brussels", with its revellers in grotesque and frightening masks. Carnival is a major participant in the story, as the drunken revellers in strange costumes become something frightening when they turn into an accusatory mob, as they do upon seeing the now-dishonoured Katharina. Although the story chronicles the systematic destruction of a personality, there are some surprise twists (which I won't reveal). It should be said that Katharina imperceptibly metamorphoses from a terrified victim into somebody with a quiet determination to do what must be done. Angela Winkler is absolutely brilliant in the way she portrays this subtle change in her character, underplaying the drama and conveying her changing feelings with the minutest of facial expressions, which speak louder than sweeping gestures. I'll leave others to discuss the political implications of the movie, but you have to see it for one of the great acting performances of the century.

Nick-163 This film is based on the novel of the same name by the German author Heinrich Böll. The book is purported to be written by Böll as a result of an ongoing feud in the German media between Böll and the publisher of the German daily tabloid the Bild Zeitung, a publication known for its lurid and sensational reporting of the news. In his story, Böll attempts to show how damaging irresponsible journalism can be to the lives and reputations of innocent persons caught up in the tide of current events.The story begins with Katherina Blum attending a party where she meets and is strongly attracted to a young man. She invites him to her apartment and they spend the night making love. The next morning, the young man has gone and the police are storming her door seeking to arrest the overnight guest as a terrorist. Instead, Katherina is arrested and taken to the police station for interrogation as his accomplice. The young terrorist has been killed and Katherina is unable to prove that she had no knowledge of his activities. A tabloid reporter becomes obsessed by the case hounds Katherina, mercilessly destroying her reputation and any semblance of a normal life. The emotional tension continues to build, finally reaching a violent climax.This is a very powerful and well made film. Böll's message regarding sensational and irresponsible journalism is very clear. After suffering along with the innocent Katharina through the insult, pain and dishonor of her ordeal, I came away from the film with an altered point of view toward tabloid journalism and commercial news reporting in general. In a world where reporters are being found guilty of manufacturing news stories, media agencies are providing dramatic reenactments of sensational news events, and names like O.J. Simpson and Monica Lewinsky are used as teasers to improve the ratings of news programs, this film is a must see.