TAKING SIDES
UK/Germany, 2003, 108 minutes. Colour.
Harvey Keitel, Stellan Skarsgaard, Mauritz Bleibtreu, Birgit Minichmayr, Ulrich Tukur, Oleg Tabakov, R. Lee Ermey.
Directed by Istvan Szabo.
British playwright Ronald Harwood is clearly still very interested in World War II stories, especially in stories that might not have made the headlines, might seem on the sidelines of the main war action and of the persecution of the Jews. He won an Oscar for his screenplay for Polish Roman Polanski's film, The Pianist. Soon after The Pianist, comes an adaptation of his play, Taking Sides, directed by Hungarian, Istvan Szabo. The Pianist, with its overtones of Polanski's own war experience, was something of a surprise to those following Polanski's career, Taking Sides will not be a surprise to those who have followed Szabo's career. In the early 1980s, he made his masterpiece about a man who sold his soul to the Third Reich, Mephisto. He followed it with war stories, particularly of World War I, Colonel Redl and Hanussen. In 2000, he released a three hour saga of the generations of a Jewish family in Austria where a central character becomes a Catholic for survival, Sunshine.
Taking Sides is very much the adaptation of a play. However, its strong characterisations, the force of its dialogue and the moral ambiguities of its two protagonists, mean that it is absorbing drama. The issue itself is powerful - and even more relevant now than when it was filmed because of the war in Iraq and the role of the American liberators, occupiers and judges.
The renowned German conductor, Wilhelm Furtwangler, opted not to leave his country, separating art from politics and, as an aesthete, hoped that he would contribute to a mellowing of the leaders of the Reich by providing music. In 1942, despite distancing himself from the Nazi party and from Goebels, and helping Jews escape the Reich, he conducted music for Hitler's birthday.
At the time of the Nuremburg trials, the allies wanted to make him an example and he was interrogated at length, charged but the charges were dismissed. Yet, he was never permitted to conduct in the US after the war.
At the time of the trials, it was assumed that the allies, particularly the Americans, had every right to interrogate and sit in judgment on the Germans. They were the occupiers and masters of a people who had sold themselves to Hitler. Now, in the light of recent events in the Middle East, these claims sound more hollow and overly self-righteous.
Listening to the words Harwood puts into the mouth of Harvey Keitel as the rather philistine former insurance investigator who loathes the Germans for their commitment to Hitler, who loathes the conductor and cannot really appreciate the music and culture arguments, we get the impression that the Americans are presumptuous and, as his secretary tells him, his interrogation methods are reminiscent of the Gestapo. Keitel relishes this role. By contrast, Stellan Skarsgaard as the conductor, conveys the bewilderment of a celebrity who has to face reality rather than speculate and retreat to a world of culture and music and who cannot believe that he is being treated the way he is.
Further dramatic complexities come from the secretary whose father was one of the conspirators against Hitler and a young American officer whose Jewish parents fled Germany in the 1930s.
There is a great deal to think about.
1. The title? The two sides: the Nazi war criminals, the American justice system, the conquering nation? The issues of the time? Universal? Americans and their taking and making judgments on other countries and cultures?
2. The work of Ronald Howard, his career, his interests?
3. The work of Istvan Szabo, his films, issues, treatment?
4. The German settings, Germany post-World War Two, the occupation? American headquarters, offices? The interrogations in Major Arnold’s office? Americans in German settings? Incongruity, the victors, the judges? Their right to be in judgment? The scenes of the ruins of Berlin? The concert in the ruined church?
5. The film based on actual characters and events? Wilhelm Furtwrangler? Stellan Skarsgaard and his presence and portrayal? His musical talent, his career, his reputation? In performance with the orchestra? For Hitler’s birthday? Not saluting Hitler? His ideal of helping the Nazis to improve their culture? His saving Jews? The ambiguity of his situation? Ideals and reality? His being puzzled by the condemnations after the war? The judgment on him? His suffering penalties? The contrast between the artist on the podium, and the man humiliated, with doubts?
6. The contrast with Major Steve Arnold, Harvey Keitel’s performance? An insurance agent, skills in investigation, the military background, philistine in culture, perhaps his desire to bring someone down? His presuppositions about the Nazis, the war, art? Art and real life? His character? His aims, his searching for evidence against the conductor, the dialogues of the interrogations? Toing and froing? The effect of interrogating the conductor on him?
7. David, his background, Jewish, escape to America? His work, attitudes, the romance with Emma?
8. Emma, her age, her experience, her father and his being executed, the plot against Hitler? Working with Arnold? With David?
9. The Russian, his culture, his understanding the conductor better than Arnold did?
10. The musicians, their being questioned, their loyalty to the conductor?
11. The film as drama, character-driven?
12. The importance of dialogue, a film of words, issues?
13. The music, the German tradition, Mozart, Schubert...? Beauty, imagination, culture? The possibility for music to improve people?
14. Did the film take sides? Did the conductor take sides in terms of the Nazis? Did Arnold take sides in terms of his condemnation? The audience? The polarisation between the two stances? Possibilities of reconciliation?
