JUDGMENT IN BERLIN
US, 1988, 92 minutes, Colour.
Martin Sheen, Sam Wanamaker, Sean Penn, Max Gail.
Directed by Leo Penn.
Judgment in Berlin is based on the book by Judge Herbert J. Stern. It is a true story about Stern and his presiding over a case about refugees from East Germany. The situation was that of an American court operating according to American law in Berlin. The screenplay is written by Joshua Sinclair and director Leo Penn.
Martin Sheen plays the liberal judge with his accustomed aplomb. Sam Wanamaker enjoys himself as a lawyer. Sean Penn has a subdued supporting role (German accent and all) and shows what an effective actor he can be. (Here he is directed by his father, Leo Penn.)
The film is set in the '70s - and was made just before the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the unification of the two Germanies. It is a reminder of the communist era.
1. Interest in the communist era, divided Germany? Escaping from East Germany to the West? Human interest? Legal judgments?
2. The Berlin settings, the authenticity of the city of Berlin, the contrast between east and west, East Germany? The musical score?
3. The title, the focus on the judge, his responsibility? The refugees? The attitudes of the East German authorities, the Polish authorities, the American State Department?
4. The establishing of the situation: 1978, the atmosphere in East Germany, East Berlin? Schuster, from the West, an engineer, arranging the escape? Sigrid and her daughter? His using his friend Helmut - and his wife and children in the West? The plans, the documentation, going to the station, the train and the plan for the ship? Poland? The arrest of Schuster, the false papers and the passports? His imprisonment and interrogation?
5. Helmut and Sigrid, the plane, the hijacking? The landing in West Berlin? The fellow passengers and the seeking of asylum? Helmut, Sigrid and her daughter arrested? The audience not seeing the full nature of the hijacking - the importance of Gunther and his wife, their knowing the facts? Their later coming forward?
6. The treatment of Helmut and Sigrid by the authorities? American suspicions? The range of interrogations, recording the interrogations? Their being used in evidence against them? The comparisons with the East German authorities and their treatment of Schuster? The question of the hijacking, Schuster and his case depending on what happened in the West?
7. Judge Stern, his reputation in the United States, his wife? His going to Germany, the discussions with the American authorities? The gradual revealing of the significance of the case? The background of law, the American Constitution? A US court within Germany? The treatment of the case, the listening to evidence? The evidence of Helmut, Sigrid - and the dropping of the case against her after revelation that she was forced into a confession by the American official? The Poles and their interest? The presence of Soviet and Polish authorities in the court?
8. Stern, his knowledge of law, his discussions with his wife? The contrast of the intimate sequences with his appearance in the court? The pressure of the American State Department? Their arguments in court, the legal attack on their statements? The estimates of the judge and his criticism of the government behaviour?
9. Sigrid, her daughter, the interrogations, the case being dropped against her? The separation from Schuster at the end of the film? The contrast with Helmut, his trial, the testimony of the crew, excessive threats? The Polish Prosecutor-General?, the intimidation in the court?
10. Gunther, his wife, in Germany, asylum? Remaking their life? Gunther's crisis of conscience, his going to the authorities? His testimony - and the audience seeing what really happened, the toy gun, the knowledge of the crew, there being no immediate danger? The American State Department's case against him? Pressuring the judge? The `not guilty' charge? His sentence as time already served?
11. Bernard Hellring, his skills as a lawyer, investigations, performance in court? With Sigrid, the case against her being dropped? His shrewdness? His staff? Judah and his friendship?
12. The issues of justice, the law, humanity? The comparisons between the American government and the Polish government? East German government? The issues seen in the retrospect of the reunification of the two Germanies?
