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Brecht | |
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Written by | Heinrich Breloer |
Directed by | Heinrich Breloer |
Starring | |
Music by | Hans-Peter Ströer |
Country of origin | Germany, Austria, Czech Republic |
Original language | German |
Production | |
Cinematography | Gernot Roll |
Editor | Claudia Wolscht |
Running time | 2 × 90 minutes |
Production companies | Bavaria Fiction in collaboration with WDR, BR, SWR etc. |
Original release | |
Release | 2019 |
Brecht is a 2019 TV docudrama film, dealing with the life and work of the German playwright Bertolt Brecht. [1] A co-production between Bavaria Fiction in Germany, Satel Film in Austria and MIA Film in the Czech Republic, principal photography occurred in and around Prague from 30 May to 28 July 2017. [2] Formed of two 90-minute parts, it was scripted and directed by Heinrich Breloer, with Tom Schilling and Burghart Klaußner in the title role. It premiered at the Berlinale 2019. [3] [4]
The film focusses more on Brecht's relationships with women (namely Paula Banholzer, Marianne Zoff, Helene Weigel, Elisabeth Hauptmann, Ruth Berlau, Käthe Reichel, Regine Lutz and Isot Kilian) than on his plays and poems. It does not mention the term epic theatre (though rehearsal scenes in Part 2 illustrate his working process with the Berliner Ensemble) and his years of exile are skipped – Bresloer has written:
Part of the film consists of an account by Martin Pohl, one of Brecht's Masters students, who was imprisoned for two years – it tells how he was tortured by sleep deprivation and gave a false confession.
This deals with Brecht's time in Augsburg, Munich and Berlin before his exile. "I'll come right behind Goethe" muses the slight and shy-looking 17-year-old schoolboy to his young love Paula, wanting to be the latest genius. His friends laugh with him at his presumptuousness and yet believe him.
This mainly deals with his life and work in East Berlin after his return from exile, such as his work with the SED regime in East Germany. This includes the SED central committee's 1953 plan to hand over the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm to the Kasernierten Volkspolizei ensemble (later known as the Erich-Weinert-Ensemble) and Brecht's successful appeal to Otto Grotewohl against this. [6] That venue has thus housed the Berliner Ensemble (founded by Brecht and Weigel in 1949) since 1954.