THE ODESSA FILE
UK/West Germany, 1973, 129 minutes, Colour.
Jon Voight, Maximilian Schell, Maria Schell, Derek Jacobi.
Directed by Ronald Neame.
The Odessa File is a modern espionage story for most audiences. Frederick Forsyth's 'The Day of the Jackal' was a fascinating study of an assassin stalked by police. This film concerns an ex-Nazi stalked by a reporter via the secret Odessa organisation for former SS men. Less intense in the treatment than the Jackal and less stylish in dialogue and photography, this film relies on Jon Voight's performance as the reporter and identification with him. The emotional response to the war, Jewish persecutions and to flashbacks to SS killings plus Voight's personality ensure audience sympathy. There is suspense and tension in sequences more than in the whole.
1. Comment on the success of this film as a thriller. Its thriller techniques and the way they were used? Its use of a mystery theme for its final success and impact?
2. Why are films like this of interest? The thriller- adventure aspects? The world of espionage? The individual hero taking on a vast group and succeeding in danger? The Nazi S.S. background? The relationship of the S.S., the Jews and modern Israel? How did the film use these points of interest?
3. How credible was the hero of the film and his experiences? The importance of the prologue by Frederick Forsyth on the reality of the Odessa Group? The plans for Israel and Egypt's war? Does the credibility of the plot matter for the enjoyment and impact of this film? Why?
4. How does the film build its atmosphere? The initial discussion in Israel? The picture of Germany, Hamburg, Austria and Vienna? Its starting on the day of Kennedy's assassination and the overtones of this? The use of pleasant music, dramatic music, the Perry Como song? The sequence of the hero driving during the credits and his intensity?
5. What kind of a man was Peter Miller? How heroic, how ordinary? His work as a journalist and his success there? His conscience and sense of responsibility? How likeable was he? How well could the audience identify with him? His relationship to Sig! and his love for her, his involvement of her in his plans? His relationship to his mother and the discussion about his father - and its importance for the rest of the film? His dislike for the Odessa Group? His sympathy for the Jewish man who suicided? His relationship to the Israelis and his decision to infiltrate Odessa? His capacities for courage - ingenuity and fear? Were you glad of his final success? Did his father's identity make you understand better his relentlessness?
6. How strong was the theme of vengeance in the film? Was Miller motivated by vengeance? Was vengeance a credible motive for the pursuit of the Odessa Group? who had the responsibility to execute justice? Discuss the importance of the interview with the Austrian prosecutor of the S.S.? His success in prosecutions? His methods? How did this contrast with the Hamburg and German authorities? What point was being made about justice here?
7. How ugly a villain was Roschman? The use and importance of the flashbacks, their sense of authenticity, Roschman's cruelty, blue and white monochrome, the murder, and then Roschman in later life, his disguise, his place in modern Germany, his use of the Odessa Organisation? What was the dramatic impact of the final confrontation of miller and Roschman: Roschman's long explanation of his S.S. role, his excusing himself and blaming authority, his confrontation of the fact of Peter's father, his self-defence, his plea for life, the discussion about Miller as a butcher, his final shooting and his death? What impact did this have for the conclusion of the film? (And the fact that he was the cover for the Egyptian weapons?)
8. How attractive a heroine was Sigi? How strong, her work, love for Peter, involvement in the case, the threats to her life, her reaction to Peter's being pushed on the rail, her final helping of him and taking the File to Vienna? Was she a conventional heroine or something more? The importance of Mrs. Miller for the film? Her memories of the war, her helping her son during the war, her comments on the father?
9. What was your response to the Odessa Organisation and its reality? Was this credible for such an organisation to exist? The details of its methods: organization, passports, new identities, etc.? The ideology behind them? The self-protection? In terms of justice, what could Germany do? What should Germany have done? How strong was the Odessa background for the plot of the film?
10. The significance of the sequence at the Siegfried convention? Neo-Nazism? The violence and fanaticism? The reaction of the younger German in Peter? The importance of the sequence for a modern audience and it reactions to Fascism?
11. The importance of Miller's interviews with Odessa people: the man who checked out his identity, the printer, the printer's mother, the assassin, etc.? How did these fit in dramatically to the plot? For suspense and adventure? And for insight into the Odessa?
12. The Israelis: did you sympathize with them? Their ruthless methods compared with the Odessa? Their use of Peter Miller? What were the major issues of the film: the Jews and suffering. Germany its past and present. German youth and the future. butchery and massacre and a sense of justice, revenge and the law?
13. The impact of the ending in Jerusalem and the prayerful mourning, the destruction of the electrical plant? Was this a satisfying ending?
14. Was this a deep enough film or did it remain on the level of fairly shallow adventure? Why?
