The mechanic Behnke wants to join the Nazi party to secure a good living. However, after his Jewish neighbors have been taken away, he changes his views. Trying to remain "a non-political man," he withdraws from reality and becomes a Nazis laborer.
Acting
Paul Esser's face crumples like paper under moral weight.
Direction
Staudte's cramped framing traps you in Behnke's shrinking world.
Writing
79 minutes of escalating dread, zero wasted breath.
Director
Wolfgang Staudte
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
One of the first German films to confront Nazi complicity, made in Soviet-occupied East Germany with overt anti-fascist messaging that now reads as complicated propaganda.
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