THE PROMISE
(DAS VERSPRECHEN)
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1996 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): *** 1/2
THE PROMISE (DAS VERSPRECHEN) tells the fictional but realistic story of a romance that starts with the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961 and ends with its destruction in 1989. At a dance in the Fall of 1961, five young East Berliners leave to escape using the sewers that go under the newly constructed wall. One, Konrad (Anian Zollner as the younger Konrad and August Zirner as the older one), slips and falls. He runs home before being caught. His friends, including his girlfriend Sophie (Meret Becker as the younger Sophie and Corinna Harfouch as the older one), escape successfully. They go to Sophie's Aunt's (Tina Engel) West Berlin house which they say is a "villa" since afterall it has two bathrooms.
Her aunt is a fashion designer thus providing a natural contrast between the wealth of the West and sparseness of the East even though the trams in the East proclaim in bold banners that the "DDR is the Industrial Leader of the World." The parents of the escaped kids are forbidden by the East German police from ever sending or receiving mail from their kids.
Konrad first becomes a guard on the wall, but eventually becomes an astronomer at the University. Because of this he is permitted limited travel and sees Sophie a few times over the thirty years. One of these times is 1968 during the Prague Spring. They have undying love for each other, but for various reasons he is never able to come to her in the West until the wall falls. The movie is about their love and torment and about the turmoil and repression of the Communist governments of the East. It is a sad and melancholic film full of great dramatic music (Juergen Knieper) filled with violins that added immensely to the intensity of the emotions.
When Sophie is in Prague and declares she will stay with him, the people there laugh at her saying, so "you believe in socialism with a human face?", which was the theory of the time and soon to be discredited. When the tanks roll in, your heart drops. Waitresses serve their customers crying, to which the audience goes along. The skillful editor (Suzanne Baron) knows just when to mix stock historical footage in with the movie for maximum effect. Some bide their time and go along with the events without protest. As Konrad's Professor Lorenz (Otto Sander) tells Sophie, "Outrage is quantitative. It gets used up."
Through the years whenever Sophie and Konrad see each other, it becomes increasing sad. In the early 80s Konrad asks her, "Can a woman love a man she has only seen three times in twenty years?" He knows that there never will be anyone for him but her. He is shown making one deal with the devil (Communists) after another in attempts to be with her.
Konrad's sister Barbara (Susanne Uge as the younger Barbara and Eva Mattes as the older) is a Protestant minister who fight against the regime no matter how costly it is to her and to her family. Refreshing to see religion as a force for good albeit her attempts were all total failures.
The ending when the wall comes down is incredible. Lots of misty eyes in the audience. The director and the cinematographer (Franz Rath) knew just how to handle it in a simple and controlled fashion. One of the East Germans is interviewed at the wall. Confused, lost and depressed at the upheaval in her life she feels that "when the cage opens after thirty years, you can't fly anymore."
The acting by the four actors playing the two leads is phenomenal as is the direction. I was very moved by this picture. It forms wonderful images in your subconscious that stay with you. This is a movie about love kept. Although it has many a tragic scene, the ultimate message made me feel like I had just heard Beethoven's Ode to Joy being sung - very uplifting.
The fine script (Felice Laudadio, Peter Schneider, Margarethe Von Trotta) develops what could have easily been a complex and long movie into an accessible and standard length film. The characters are all ones that the audience cares about, and by the end, dry eyes are to come by. And yet the script never manipulates the audience, rather it approaches the story in a remarkable low key fashion. The East is shown to be full of Orwellian logic. When border guards hesitate to kill potential escapees, their officers accuse them of being "against peace." There are simple scenes of people staring with binoculars wistfully across the border from their balconies.
When I was at Berkeley getting my doctorate in the late 60s, one of my friends and fellow student got out of Czechoslovakia right after the Prague Spring. His brother was a writer who spent a lot of time in jail so all of this repression there rang true to me. By the way, his brother later became Czechoslovakia's first president. So there too was a happy ending.
THE PROMISE reminded me somewhat of THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING which is certainly a compliment, but THE PROMISE is a unique show thanks to the script and the artful direction of Margarethe Von Trotta. She is in total control. The casting is excellent. I did not realize for quite a while that the older Sophie was not the same actress as the younger one. Konrad was not quite as close, but very similar. In an American production, we would have spent a ton of money and had the actors spend hours every day getting made to look older through makeup. I liked Von Trotta's different actors approach.
THE PROMISE runs just 1:59 but manages to cover thirty years with perfect pacing. You will never be bored nor will you feel cheated that they are trying to cram too much stuff in. The film is in German with easy to follow English subtitles, and it is rated R. Although it does have brief nudity and a little sex, I can not remember any violence. It would be fine for absolutely any teenager. I strongly recommend this film to you. If you are at all interested in love or history, you must see this film. It will touch your heart as it did mine. Finally, I award it *** 1/2.
**** = One of the top few films of this or any year. A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = One of the worst films of this or any year. Totally unbearable.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: January 31, 1996
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews