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The Legend of RitaRating:
Release Date: 09 October, 2001 Retail Price: $29.95 OUR Price: $26.99 You SAVE: $2.96! Cast: Complete Cast (5 total) |
The Legend of Rita Reviews
"To my liberation from the class enemy!"
Rita Vogt (Bibiana Beglau) is one of a group of West German terrorists who spring fellow terrorist, Andrea (Harald Schrott) from jail. Several people are shot during the jailbreak, and the group goes on the lam to Paris. While in Paris, Rita kills a policeman, and the terrorists are once again on the run--this time they slip into East Germany with the help of Stasi officer Erwin Hull (Martin Wuttke) who befriended Rita when she was recognized upon entering East Berlin before. Since the heat is on the group, Erwin makes an offer--the terrorists can accept a new life--with new identities in East Germany, or they can be flown out to Beirut. While everyone else elects Beirut, Rita decides to stay in East Germany.
Rita assumes a new identity in East Germany, and her adjustment to her environment is at the heart of "The Legend of Rita" from director Volker Schlondorff. The plot places Rita in some interesting situations. Her first job, for example, is in a factory where she befriends Tatjana (Nadja Uhl). Tatjana loathes East Germany, and would love to live in the West. She can't understand why Rita (now living under an assumed name) would give up Western freedoms and chose to live under Communist rule. In the meantime, Rita's former rebelliousness against the state has simply disappeared, and she's become a drone--speaking the party line and accepting whatever she's told to do. When Rita's new identity is threatened, she has little choice but to move on--leaving Tatjana and their budding lesbian affair.
The film fails to fulfill its promise, however, on several layers. Rita becomes a pawn for the Stasi--every move she makes is watched, and every conversation she has is taped. The film could have chosen to tackle some fascinating complex arguments--Rita's ideology, for example, and the challenge she faces in either rejecting her beliefs or sticking to them in the face of such nauseating, and threatening Orwellian bureaucracy. The plot shows Rita as mindlessly accepting what she is told to do--she doesn't question her freedoms, and by making Rita a drone, she is a far less interesting character. Instead, the film concentrates on Rita's two love interests. Also, if you are expecting to discover something about the Red Army Faction (RAF) here, keep looking. This is not a film about the RAF. There is an excellent book by Stefan Aust on the subject, but it's rare to find a copy in English. I recommend "How It All Began" By Bommi Baumann and "Televisionaries: The Red Army Faction Story 1963-1993" by Tom Vague. "The Legend of Rita" is worth watching for all fans of German film out there. Overall, the film's message argues strongly against aligning oneself with any political ideals. In German with English subtitles--displacedhuman
Fascinating Portrayal Of A German Terrorist
The Legend of Rita is generally an excellent film. Rita Vogt belongs to a small faction of terrorists who rob banks and commit other crimes "to support the revolution" in 1970s West Germany. From the get-go, the movie is fast-paced and exciting, with robberies and fights among the terrorists highlighted by quick scene changes. Rita, fleeing from the West German police, ultimately takes refuge in East Germany and is then given "legends," i.e., identities, to disguise her presence in that country. Although the character is completely fictional, Rita appears to resemble, both physically and otherwise, the Red Army Faction member Susanne Albrecht, who was given asylum and a new identity in East Germany (although Albrecht did not participate in a jailbreak.) Rita idolizes East Germany and is pleased to live in a "true socialist state" - a position that becomes untenable after the wall falls in 1989. The film strikes a note of truth as it contrasts East Germany as seen through Rita's rose-colored glasses and the country as it is seen by its own citizens. Rita's faith in, and enthusiasm for, socialism blinds her to the dreariness of East German life, which drives other characters in the film to drink.
Having said that, this portrayal of an RAF (although that group is not named) terrorist is far too sanitized. In the liner notes, the director refers to the real RAF as "so-called" terrorists. In the film, we are shown the apparently accidental murder of an attorney mid-jailbreak, and the murder of a policeman who is trying to catch Rita. Both of these murders can be rationalized (for those who wish to rationalize them) as crazed attempts to prevent arrest or continued imprisonment. In reality, the RAF deliberately, and with malice aforethought, murdered innocent people. Susanne Albrecht, for example, deliberately lured Jurgen Ponto, chairman of Dresdner Bank and Albrecht's godfather, to his death. An RAF faction killed Heinz Hillegart, the German economic attache to Sweden, and hung his corpse out the window. They kidnapped Peter Lorenz, the Christian Democrat candidate for mayor of West Berlin. The RAF joined other terrorists in the hijacking of an Air France jetliner to Entebbe. They separated the Jews from all the other passengers and threatened to kill them -- and would have, had an Israeli force led by Jonathan Netanyahu not rescued the hostages. In short, this was a bad, bad, bad gang, and - if indeed Schlondorff was portraying the RAF - it does no good to sugar-coat them.
While the film shows the Stasi helping the terrorists -- which did indeed happen -- it shows the Stasi men to be far too genial for my taste. The Stasi are portrayed simply as enthusiasts, who romanticize the revolutionary spirit of the terrorists and try to live vicariously through their exploits. In fact, as demonstrated elsewhere, the relationship between the Stasi and various terrorist groups was symbiotic: it was part of East German policy, determined at the highest level of the Politburo and with the encouragement of the Soviet Union, to arm and train them.
Despite these flaws, I highly recommend the film. It provides a very realistic portrayal of East Germany, right down to the prefabricated houses and the workplace collections for worldwide revolutionary movements. The spy agency's "Comrade General" is shown hunting, which was a favorite activity of Stasi commander Erich Mielke. Moreover, Bibliana Beglau is a terrific actress, and her portrayal of Rita is convincing. We are never completely sure why Rita joined the gang -- was it really love, or did her obvious sympathies lead her over the edge? Finally, the film raises some important issues about youthful mistakes from the perspective of middle age. Overall, the film is well worth watching.
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