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Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 10h

Yes, but Brookville is on Long Island in Nassau County. He can avoid NYC entirely if he flies into Islip...

Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 1d

This film has one of the best crews DEFA ever had: Wolfgang Kohlhaase writing the screenplay with Wolf, Werner Bergmann as cinematographer, Alfred Hirschmeier doing production design, and Evelyn Carow editing her first film for Wolf (but not her last!). It's deservedly seen as one of DEFA's best.

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Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 1d

This is a wonderful film, and undoubtedly one of the most personal films DEFA ever produced. Gregor is doing his best to understand what has happened and trying to find himself as a German in Germany again, but what identity can he build from the rubble of the war? He is certain about one thing:

The final shot of "I Was Nineteen" (1968)., showing a dirt road from a farm heading off into the distance. Gregor (Jaecki Schwarz) is sitting in the back of the truck looking towards the farm, but the truck is barely visible in the distance in this picture. Gregor's English-language subtitle is a now a statement of both fact and belief: "I'm a German."

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Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 1d

Everyone's teenage years are a time when they figure out who they are and what they believe in. For Gregor (and for Konrad Wolf), he grew up as a German living abroad and finding his German heritage is an asset, but also shameful because of what his countrymen have done. Wadim sums up the contrast:

Wadim (Vasiliy Livanov) and a German former prisoner talk at a party in a scene from "I Was Nineteen" (1968). Wadim is at right and sitting on the floor, with short black hair, a dark coat, and holding a cigarette in his left hand, while the German is on a chair at left in a dark worn coat and dark pants. Wadim's English-language subtitle is: "Goethe and Auschwitz. Two German names."

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Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 1d

And while the war seems over, it isn't: the team encounters a firefight when a Soviet tank (Drunken Soviets? Stolen by Nazis? No one knows.) fires on a resting group of troops and later, when the team accepts the surrender of dozens of troops at a farm, passing SS troops fire and a comrade dies.

Soviet soldier Gregor (Jaecki Schwarz) and surrendered German soldier Willi Lommer (Dieter Mann) both lay on the ground firing machine guns at SS soldiers off-camera while hiding behind a pile of surrendered guns in a scene from "I Was Nineteen" (1968). Gregor is at left with short blond hair and a Soviet military hat, while Willi is at far right with a German military hat and shorter hair than Gregor.

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Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 1d

As April turns to May, Hitler is dead and a mood of celebration emerges at times. The audio truck team helps make pelemeni for a party with Soviet soldiers celebrating with German comrades and prisoners. Yet though he is among fellow Germans, he still feels like an outsider and is questioned.

Gregor (Jaecki Schwarz) is at left facing a table of fellow Germans in a scene from "I Was Nineteen" (1968). One of the Germans, on the left side and at the front end of the table, asks Gregor, "You're German?" Others at the table, soldiers, comrades, and former prisoners, all look at Gregor for his answer.

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Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 1d

Being a German speaker and interpreter in the Soviet army puts Gregor in some delicate situations, notably the request of Spandau fortress to surrender. A vote of German officers doesn't go the Soviets' way, so they go into the fortress to make their case. It succeeds in the end, but only just...

Gregor (Jaecki Schwarz), Wadim Gejman (Vasiliy Livanov), Colonel Lewerenz (Johannes Wieke), and First Lieutenant Schenk (Jürgen Hentsch) in a scene from "I Was Nineteen" (1968). They are in front of the barricaded entrance to Spandau Fortress, with Gregor and Wadim for the Soviet army at left and Lewerenz and Schenk for the Germany army at right. The Soviets are in dark hats and coats and Gregor is carrying a white flag, while Wadim wears a white scarf. Lewerenz and Schenk are in gray hats and military uniforms. The English-language from Gregor, translating Wadim's Russian, is "We demand you surrender Spandau Fortress'.

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Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 1d

The Nazi soldiers they encounter vary; while some refuse to surrender, others keep going about their duties until the Soviets are literally at the door. A supply unit's leader ends up calling his boss to request that he be captured, but his boss doesn't believe it until Sascha gets on the phone...

Sascha (Aleksey Eybozhenko) and Gregor (Jaecki Schwarz) in a scene from "I Was Nineteen" (1968). German supply unit leader Major Behring (Rolf Hoppe) is at left with his head out of fraome facing right wearing a dark coat, while Sascha is behind him at center on the phone with blond short hair and holding his left hand over the mouthpiece. Gregor is at right wearing a military hat and coat, facing Sascha and looking like he's about to laugh, and with good reason: Sascha's English-language subtitle, addressing Major Behring's superior, is calling him "a motherfornicating fascist!" (Yes, that's the exact subtitle, and yes, you can totally steal it for your sign at the "No Kings" protest on Saturday.)

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Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 1d

Running ahead of the rear guard, often they find towns empty of soldiers; with the lead troops moving on, Gregor finds himself appointed mayor of Bernau for a short time and meets a Soviet woman soldier who is quite angry at the Germans and a young German woman who is quite fearful of the Soviets.

Gregor Hecker (Jaecki Schwarz) in a scene from "I Was Nineteen (1968). He is behind a small desk with a smaller lamp in front of him as temporary commandant of Bernau. He has short curly hair and is facing right wearing a dark gray shirt. At left and with her back to us is a young German woman (Jenny Gröllmann) requesting to stay the night in the building. Gregor's English-language subtitle is "She's scared.". The responding subtitle from a Soviet woman soldier off-camera to the right is "But not of you?"

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Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 1d

He is part of a small crew, led by Sascha (Aleksey Eybozhenko) with former teacher Wadim Gejman (Vasiliy Livanov) from Kyiv and Mongolian driver
Dsingis (Kalmursa Rachmanov). Together they play music and speak messages encouraging German surrender as they approach Berlin.

Wadim Gejman (Vasiliy Livanov) and Gregor Hecker (Jaecki Schwarz) in a scene from "I Was Nineteen" (1968). Wadim is at left wearing a military hat and a military coat and looking right, while Gregor is asleep and leaning on his left shoulder with short dark hair and a military coat.

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Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 1d

#DEFAcember 38: "I Was Nineteen" (1968) is Konrad Wolf's most personal film, and no wonder: it's based on his diaries from when he was serving with the Soviet army at the end of World War II. He's German, but left when he was young and now is with a winning army but from the losing country.

A black-and-white scene of a flooded lake from "I Was Nineteen" (1968). To the right are two sets of branches of trees in the lake, with the trunk underwater, and father behind is land hidden in some fog with some trees without leaves visible. Behind the closer branches is a wooden raft floating by with a gallows on it from which a man is hanging. A sign is attached to his body saying, "Deserter! I am a Russian lackey." The English-language caption comes from Gregor Hecker, the German interpreter for a small team driving an audio truck and stating a fact: "I'm a German."

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Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 1d

So they're leaving Homan holding the bag? (I know, I know. I'll show myself out.)

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Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 2d

It's not one of Wolf's better-known films, but is very much worth watching. The title is quite appropriate; it's about people recovering from circumstances and getting second chances despite what has happened in their past. The film was only briefly available online; hopefully it'll return soon.

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Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 2d

This film feels closer to Konrad Wolf's later films than "Once is Never" did, and has some interesting relationships among characters. We see people making different decisions (whether to stay in Germany or go, for example) during the Nazi years, but no decision is seen as wrong (except being Nazi).

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Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 2d

Friedel/Müller's plan for Kerster becomes a success, but afterwards he confesses his fraud and comes up for trial. Additionally, Irene still has feelings for him and when Kerster decides to leave town to go to college, she's faced with another moment of decision whether to stay or go.

Walter Friedel, no longer posing as Dr. Müller (Wolfgang Kieling) and Irene Kerster (Karla Runkehl) in a scene from "Genesung" (Recovery) (1955). They are sitting on a bench near the water, with a park behind them. Walter is at left wearing a gray coat and white shirt and with short dark hair, while Irene is at right with a dark coat and white blouse and with shorter blonde hair. They are holding hands, Walter with his right hand and Irene with both hands.

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Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 2d

Friedel/Müller determines to help Kerster find purpose again, working with him to reduce his use of morphine and encouraging him to read in the hopes he can move around again in a self-propelled wheelchair. But the process is complicated when he meets Kerster's wife, who turns out to be Irene.

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Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 2d

His assignment includes a difficult patient who's been there for years, Max Kerster (Wilhelm Koch-Hooge), who Friedel/Müller doesn't know is a friend of the man he saved years ago. Kerster doesn't know (or want to know, perhaps) that he's paralyzed from the waist down and will never walk again.

Walter Friedel, posing as Dr. Müller (Wolfgang Kieling) and Max Kerster (Wilhelm Koch-Hooge) in a scene from "Genesung" (Recovery) (1955). Friedel/Müller is standing behind the bed where Kerster lays and is wearing a doctor's coat, white shirt, and black tie and has short dark hair. Kerster's head is at right and he has short dark wavy hair. He looks half-awake.

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Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 2d

He has no papers of his own, just those of the deceased Doctor Müller, and so that's who the British think he is. He returns to his hometown to search for Irene, but the local clinic needs doctors desperately, and he is hired on the spot when the clinic supervisor hears about him.

Walter Friedel, now posing as Dr. Müller (Wolfgang Kieling) and his supervisor Professor Beheim (Eduard von Winterstein) in a scene from "Genesung" (Recovery) (1955). Friedel/Müller is at left looking forward wearing a doctor's coat, white shirt, and black tie, and has short dark hair, while Beheim is at right looking left at Friedel/Müller and is wearing a doctor's coat, white shirt, and black tie and has eyeglasses and short graying hair, with balding near the front of his head.

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Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 2d

...but Friedel gets captured by the Nazis and put into service as a medical assistant, starting at El Alamein and working inward as the war continues. Helping a wounded patient late in the war, the doctor he works with is killed and he finishes the surgery on his own, just as British troops arrive.

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Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 2d

With Friedel likely to be sought after for saving a Communist's life, he plans to head abroad as well and wants Irene to go with him. But she wants to stay and work against the Nazis at home and when both get to the train station, she stays behind at the last minute. So he's on his own...

Irene Schorn (Karla Runkehl) in a scene from "Genesung" (Recovery) (1955). She is at a table at a party by herself watching Walter Friedel (Wolfgang Kieling) perform offscreen. She is at center and looking left wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and has shoulder length blonde hair. Other members of the party crowd are at tables behind her, slightly out of focus.

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Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 2d

But he has good reason for not becoming a doctor: he dropped out of medical school in 1941 under the Nazis and took up a career singing (!) and has known Irene for a few months. But an emergency arises and Nazi doctors can't be trusted, so Friedel saves a Communist's life and he escapes abroad.

Walter Friedel (Wolfgang Kieling) plays guitar at a party in a scene from "Genesung" (Recovery) (1955). He is at left wearing a doctor's coat and black bow tie and gray pants and is playing a guitar; in front of him and behind him are ropes that are part of the stage scenery; behind him to the right is another band member. The picture is grainy because it's a capture from a picture from the back of a DVD case.

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Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 2d

#DEFAcember 37 (another bonus!): "Recovery" (1955) was the second film Konrad Wolf directed, and it feels a lot more like his later films than "Once Doesn't Count" did. Its main character is Walter Friedel (Wolfgang Kieling), who has been found out by officials as not being the doctor he claims.

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Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 4d

Heck, I've got more followers than that! I'll happily take my talents (such as they are) to CBS for just 1 percent of the $150 million she got, plus a reboot of the game show "Whew!"

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Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 5d

Well, tomorrow's the anniversary of your voter's pamphlet post where I found you, so it's not all bad. I still relish the older coworker (now retired) reading the first word of each sentence out loud until a younger colleague yelled, "David, it's rickrolling!" (Name unchanged to protect the guilty.)

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Andrew Weber @noplot.bsky.social · 5d

This has been another episode of "Those Wacky Protestants".

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