The Adventures of Werner Holt (film)

The Adventures of Werner Holt (

As the Soviets attack, Wolzow orders his ill-equipped soldiers to hold to the last man. Holt flees, only to hear that his friend was himself accused of treason by an SS blocking detachment. He arrives in time to see Wolzow hanged. Enraged, Holt grabs a machine-gun and mows down the executioners. He then deserts.

Cast

Production

The script was based on

The film sold more than three million tickets in East Germany alone,[2] and was well received in the Soviet Union.^[3] It was one of the relatively few DEFA pictures to be released in West Germany, where it enjoyed considerable success, as well.^[4]

Director Joachim Kunert, writer Claus Küchenmeister and cinematographer Rolf Sohre all won the National Prize of East Germany, 2nd Class, on 6 October 1965.

On 6 February 1965, the National-Zeitung columnist Hartmut Albrect wrote that the picture contained "extraordinary, well-made scenes that convey deeper messages than those immediately noticed." Günter Sobe from the Berliner Zeitung dubbed the picture "remarkably authentic", having "a powerful effect." Critic Ulrich Gregor praised Kunert's decision to split the plot into two storylines in order to deal with the chronological inconsistency of Noll's book.^[8] The German International Film Lexicon described the picture as "one that causes shock … and warns against misguided ideals."^[9]

Sabine Hake cited The Adventures of Werner Holt as one of the most notable films that, using a modernist style, challenged the traditional East German anti-Fascist narrative by introducing a more personal perspective to the theme.^[10] Anke Pinkert, too, viewed it as a picture that dealt with the issue in a more realistic manner than previous works.^[4] James Chapman wrote that the "flashbacks and the stream-of-consciousness techniques" employed by the director enabled Kunert to present "a fully rounded protagonist".^[11] Daniela Berghan included the film among DEFA's Anti-Fascist classics.^[12] Authors Antonin and Miera Liehm classified it as one of the "army epics", a genre that used the setting of the German military to convey strong criticism of the country's militaristic tradition.^[13]

In 1996, The Adventures of Werner Holt was selected by a commission of historians and critics as one of the hundred most important German films ever made.^[14]

References