THE HARMONISTS
Reviewed by Harvey Karten, Ph.D. Miramax Films Director: Joseph Vilsmaier Writer: Jurgen Buscher, Klaus Richter Cast: Ben Becker, Heino Ferch, Ulrich Noethen, Heinrich Schafmeister, Max Tidof, Kai Wiesinger, Meret Becker, Katja Riemann, Dana Vavrova, Noemi Fischer, Otto Sander, Michaela Rosen, Gunter Lamprecht, Gerard Samaan, Rolf Hoppe
There must be hundreds of movies that have dealt in some way with the theme of Nazism, and they're still coming out of the Hollywood mills and the cameras of the independent studios as well. That's OK. There will always be a need for more stories of Germany's flight into irrationality, particularly those which carve out a niche, which study some aspect of the period which has rarely been exposed to the public. The best example this year of such a feat is Roberto Benigni's "Life is Beautiful," which deals with the efforts of a prisoner to use humor to conceal the brutality of a concentration camp from his young, incarcerated son. Similarly, Volker Schlondorff's "The Ogre" singles out the training of the Hitler Youth to cinematic advantage.
Now comes "The Harmonists," due to open in February '99 and based on the memories of the longest-surviving member of a popular German group. It's a heartbreaker. Few films have pointed out more effectively the utter absurdity of Nazi doctrine. Less than two years after the accession of Hitler in January 1933, the group called The Comedian Harmonists were forbidden to continue giving concerts despite their popularity with even a raging anti-Semite like Julius Streicher. Why? Three of their six members were Jewish. Never mind that once the group got established, concerts were sold out in Berlin and Munich. The Jewish half were apparently polluting the country, according to the senseless mentality of the Nazi officials, though one could challenge any of them to point out which three were of that faith.
The initial half of the film is less dramatic than the concluding portion, filling us in on the background of the organization, portraying how the singing sensations were organized in a way that could serve as a primer to the formation of many a similar band of musicians. During the hard economic times in Germany in 1927, when the labor force was swelling with the unemployed, there was a demand for light entertainment to take the people's minds off their hardships. A 20-year-old drama student, Harry Frommermann (Ulrich Noethen), advertises for fellow vocalists--who must be under the age of 25--and receives many applicants. After hiring Robert Biberti (Ben Becker), Roman Cycowski (Heino Ferch), Erich Abraham Collin (Heinrich Schafmeister), Ari Leschnikoff (Max Tidof) and Erwin Bootz (Kai Wiesinger), they rehearse for long hours, are belittled by a prospective promoter as being funereal in tone, and finally capture a syncopated feel that they could call their own. While the sextet modeled itself after the popular American a capella group, "The Revellers" and after the style of Duke Ellington as well, their adaptation of those models into a German mold became contagious.
Joseph Vilsmaier, who directs the movie, and Klaus Richter, its scripter, convey the joie de vivre of this fun group whose backstage antics were not often as heartwarming as their dressed-up performances. Harry Frommermann and Robert Biberti fought over the same girl, Erna Eggstein (Meret Becker), a student whose heart may have belonged to Harry but who was enticed by Robert's offer of a spacious room in his home that she could use for her studies.
Director Vilsmaier tiptoes over the Nazi atrocities, portraying only briefly a scene in which brownshirt thugs smash up a Jewish-owned store in which Erna worked part- time. Since the movie covers only the years 1927-1934, anti- Jewish policies were only beginning. In fact one gets the impression by the unanimous cheers of the concert audience that only a small percentage of the German people had any hatred toward the Jews, the antipathy coming exclusively from lower-middle class and unemployed young people who took out their frustrations on a convenient scapegoat. One of the brownshirts is shown to take part in the smashing of the Jewish-owned store simply because his girl friend rebuffed him in favor of Harry. The viewer must question the accuracy of this mood, particularly given the recent scholarship that holds that a majority of German people from all groups were anti-Semitic.
Ulrich Noethen is the man to watch here. Resembling Robert Benigni in both appearance and gestures, his Harry Frommermann is a shy lad whose faint heart was failing to win his fair maiden, but whose enthusiasm is expressed vibrantly in his promotion of the band. While the production design for New York during the early 1930's looks counterfeit, production designer Rolf Zehetbauer effectively captures the fashion and spirit of the time, a spirit which resembles that of the United States with its love for the Charleston, for short hair, and for a devil-may-care attitude complete with a swanky big-city brothel. The Comedian Harmonists became a household name in Germany during the brief period that the boys performed, while its music is still quite popular in Germany and Europe. Like most other musical groups, they went through the agonies of forming, of gaining a name, of prospering, and eventually splitting up. The difference is that their separation was caused not so much by internal strife but by outlandish national politics.
Rated R. Running Time: 114 minutes. (C) 1998 Harvey Karten
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