"Mitten in Deutschland: NSU" or "NSU: German History X" (wow.. what a bad title) is a German mini-series from earlier this year that aired on television. It consists of three parts and each of them runs for slightly over 90 minutes, the first even over 100 minutes. It gives us an insight into the time of far-right terror here in Germany that does not go that far back in history and it is about the three NSU (national Socialist Underground) members Uwe Mundlos, Uwe Böhnhardt and Beate Zschäpe killing several Turkish (and one Greek) people living and working in Germany. It needed them to start robbing banks until the police finally got on their trail. Mundlos killed Böhnhardt and himself while the trial against Zschäpe is still going on, has been for over three years now I believe and yesterday was actually the first time she made a statement and spoke in court for the first time when she was (as expected) accusing the two dead men of being responsible.
But lets not look at reality now, lets look at these award-nominated almost 5 hours. Each of the three episodes is from another director (Schwochow, Aladag, Cossen) and the cast is also very different. Some actors appear in two episodes, but apart from the connection of the topic, it's almost three stand-alone movies. The first is about the trio of killers. The second is about the victims. And the third is about the police investigating. I think the standout here is Anna Maria Mühe (yes, she is the daughter of Ulrich) who plays the female terrorist. Schuch is solid, even if his role does not have a lot to offer really, while Urzendowsky only stays memorable because of his physical transformation. And films two and three also have many known German actors such as Hennicke, Schilling, Gersak, Lukas, Groth, Fries, Noethen, Berkel and more. It's really a great cast list.
But the project offers very little and I do believe it was a missed opportunity. The runtime is somewhat justified, but really more from the perspective that the trio worked together for such a long time, over two decades. I do not like the general idea of splitting it into three individual movies. I am okay with the idea of bringing in victims and the police, but I would have preferred one director in charge of these films and he should have made them all and given us a chronological take on the subject. The focus in this case could have been the trio at the core of it all with occasional sub-plots about victims and police and I think this would have turned out more interesting than two individual films so far away from the main focus. Anyway, I still think the actors did a somewhat decent job, also in films 2 and 3, even if I probably never will like Florian Lukas as a serious actor and I also felt that the focus on him was also too big. He was too much in the center of it all. And I also did not like some of the fictitious dramatization aspects, such as the guy who dies in the very last scene apparently. It was okay from the drama perspective, but in terms of authenticity, it took the whole thing too much in the fantasy/fiction department.
All in all, I do not think this was a failure, but I also do not think the film managed to deliver the dramatic/emotional impact that it could (maybe should) have delivered. It's really a very important subject in German history and I think the name Zschäpe will still be known to Germans (and foreigners) with an interest in politics 50 years from now. I am almost certain that there will be more movies in the future about the NSU and what they did, who they were and what motivated them to commit their horrendous actions. This movie (collection of movies) does not do the subject justice. I have to give it a thumbs-down and I can only repeat myself in saying that this was truly a missed opportunity (especially with the cast at hand) and that, by now, I'd rather recommend to see a documentary instead of this film.
But lets not look at reality now, lets look at these award-nominated almost 5 hours. Each of the three episodes is from another director (Schwochow, Aladag, Cossen) and the cast is also very different. Some actors appear in two episodes, but apart from the connection of the topic, it's almost three stand-alone movies. The first is about the trio of killers. The second is about the victims. And the third is about the police investigating. I think the standout here is Anna Maria Mühe (yes, she is the daughter of Ulrich) who plays the female terrorist. Schuch is solid, even if his role does not have a lot to offer really, while Urzendowsky only stays memorable because of his physical transformation. And films two and three also have many known German actors such as Hennicke, Schilling, Gersak, Lukas, Groth, Fries, Noethen, Berkel and more. It's really a great cast list.
But the project offers very little and I do believe it was a missed opportunity. The runtime is somewhat justified, but really more from the perspective that the trio worked together for such a long time, over two decades. I do not like the general idea of splitting it into three individual movies. I am okay with the idea of bringing in victims and the police, but I would have preferred one director in charge of these films and he should have made them all and given us a chronological take on the subject. The focus in this case could have been the trio at the core of it all with occasional sub-plots about victims and police and I think this would have turned out more interesting than two individual films so far away from the main focus. Anyway, I still think the actors did a somewhat decent job, also in films 2 and 3, even if I probably never will like Florian Lukas as a serious actor and I also felt that the focus on him was also too big. He was too much in the center of it all. And I also did not like some of the fictitious dramatization aspects, such as the guy who dies in the very last scene apparently. It was okay from the drama perspective, but in terms of authenticity, it took the whole thing too much in the fantasy/fiction department.
All in all, I do not think this was a failure, but I also do not think the film managed to deliver the dramatic/emotional impact that it could (maybe should) have delivered. It's really a very important subject in German history and I think the name Zschäpe will still be known to Germans (and foreigners) with an interest in politics 50 years from now. I am almost certain that there will be more movies in the future about the NSU and what they did, who they were and what motivated them to commit their horrendous actions. This movie (collection of movies) does not do the subject justice. I have to give it a thumbs-down and I can only repeat myself in saying that this was truly a missed opportunity (especially with the cast at hand) and that, by now, I'd rather recommend to see a documentary instead of this film.