THE NINTH DAY/ DER NEUNTE TAG
November 26th 2004
This film statement is not about a controversial film. Rather, The Ninth day concerns OCIC (the former Organisation Catholique Internationale du Cinéma) and SIGNIS (the present World Catholic Association for Communication).
It is based on a memoir written by Fr Jean Bernard at the end of World War II, after his release from Dachau. At the outbreak of war, the OCIC Secretariat in Brussels was occupied by the Germans. Jean Bernard was the secretary general. Abbé Brohée, the president, remained during the war years as chaplain to a convent outside the city. He died in 1947. Jean Bernard had returned to his native Luxembourg. However, he was arrested at the French border and sent to Dachau. OCIC was targeted by the Germans because its reviews had not praised the films of the propaganda machine that were already being released.
After the war, Jean Bernard went to Switzerland to recuperate but was back in Brussels by 1946 preparing for a congress. He became president of OCIC in 1947 and remained in that position until 1972. During his presidency, OCIC began its jury work at world film festivals, in Venice in 1948, Cannes in 1952, Berlin in 1954. During the 1950s, juries were established in Spain and in Latin America. There was also an annual Grand Prix. Winners of this award included La Strada (1954), On the Waterfront (1955), The Prisoner (1956).
Jean Bernard contributed to church thinking on media at the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and in subsequent years. He also steered OCIC through difficult times when there was strong questioning of its decisions, a prize to Pasolini’s Teorema in Venice, 1969 (who had previously won the prize there in 1964 for The Gospel According to Matthew) and to John Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy in Berlin, 1970. After his retirement he returned to Luxembourg and worked for Catholic media. He also hosted several OCIC meetings there. He died in 1994.
Jean Bernard did not speak about the nine day leave he was given from Dachau in January 1942. The screenplay for the film, The Ninth Day, speculates and creates a plausible scenario. In the film, Bernard is called Henri Kremer (played by Ulrich Matthes). He comes from a respectable family, his brother an industrialist working for the regime. Kremer has been told by a young SS officer (August Diehl) to visit the Archbishop (who has retreated to his home, refusing to collaborate) and persuade him to support the occupying administration and save the Catholic Church, promising that in the post-war Reich the Church would play a significant role. The varying opinions about the role of Pius XII are discussed. If Kremer does not return by the ninth day, the priests in Dachau will be executed.
Distinguished German director, Volker Schloendorff, has made an intelligent drama that raises the principal issues of the war in Europe: Aryan supremacy, the extermination of the Jews, occupying forces and government, collaboration and resistance, torture and executions, the role of religion and the Catholic Church. The young SS officer (who is revealed to have been a seminarian and ordained deacon but who opted for the Reich to better the world) argues that Jesus went beyond Judaism and that this was the vision of Judas, that his ‘betrayal’ of Jesus and his own past was a heroic action. Kremer returns to Dachau.
Audiences have seen concentration camp films for many decades. Schloendorff, however, brings a forcefully grim style to his sequences, including the crucifixion and crowning with barbs of a Polish priest. He also highlights the moral integrity of the prisoners, especially Kremer’s acknowledging to himself on his return that he is in the place where he should be, where God wanted him to be.
The film’s Luxembourg premiere, held on November 25th, 2004, revealed the country’s admiration for Jean Bernard and his heroic stances. Volker Schloendorff himself payed tribute to him as a model of authentic priestly commitment. He spoke of his contribution as a Catholic priest to the dialogue between the Church and professional cinema worldwide. It was fitting that he should receive a memoir and a tribute in a film.
The film premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in 2004.
In February 2005, it was selected for the official international competition in the Fajr Festival in Tehran, Iran. The international jury was a multi-faith jury representing Iran, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Russia, Lebanon and the US. The Ninth Day was awarded prizes for Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor.
On a personal level, I felt touched and proud to be one of his successors in OCIC and SIGNIS.
