Rating: 
Summary: The Power of the Press
Review: This movie stems from a time when German movie making was at its zenith, in the 70s and early 80s. The script of this film is very true to the book of the same title, written by the German Nobel Laureate Heinrich Boell. A woman, who has had a brief affair with a man supsected to be a left-wing terrorist is arrested by the police, who want to link her to terrorism as well. Despite the aggressive attempts by the interrogating police officers to talk her into submission and to strip her of her dignity, they fail to produce anything of value to their alleged case. The press, however, (symbolized as a sensation-hungry tabloid, modelled after the German daily "Bild") manages in a smear campaign to "indict" her in public. This is a very powerful, maybe a little bit outdated movie, where an incredibly great cast had been assembled: Angela winkler in the title role (she also stars in "The Tin Drum"), Mario Adorf as a police officer, and Heinz Bennent.
Rating:
Summary: a great film with an important message
Review: This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.
The Lost Honor of Katherina Blum, originally released in East Germany as "Die Verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum oder: Wie Gewalt entstehen und wohin sie führen kann" which translates to: "The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum, or How Violence Develops and Where It Can Lead" is an excellent film regarding the treatment of persosn suspected of consorting with terrorists. It is based on a book by Heinrich Böll.
I would assume the re-release was inspired in part by the September 11 attacks and the susequent crackdown on those suspected of helping terrorists.
In the film a woman is accused of harboring a member of a left-wing terrorist group. After her release, she is followed everywhere by a member of a tabloid newspaper and receives obscene hate mail and prank phone calls. The film depicts how every person who comes into contact witht he terrorist is followed by the police and checked out.
The film stirs worries that some have regarding their civil liberties in a post 9/11 America. I find the film to be quite good and is set against actual events in 1970's Germany during an uprising of a German terrorist group known as the RAF (Rote Armee Fraktion or Red Army Faction)
The Criterion Collection release has interviews with the film's two co-directors,Volker Schlöndorff and Margarethe von Trotta. and with director of photography, Jost Vacano.
Thre is also a documentary about author Heinrich Böll and a theatrical trailer for the film.
The film is quite good but is not for everyone.
Rating: 
Summary: a great film and an excellent dvd
Review: What a transfer! I am really enjoying this DVD, and I highly recommend it. An example of 1970s New German Cinema, that still holds up today. Angela Winkler's silent and steady performance is so good it will rattle your bones!
Rating:
Summary: a great film and an excellent dvd
Review: What a transfer! I am really enjoying this DVD, and I highly recommend it. An example of 1970s New German Cinema, that still holds up today. Angela Winkler's silent and steady performance is so good it will rattle your bones!
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