Hôtel Terminus (1988)

User Rating:

8.4/10   

Director:

Marcel Ophüls

Writer:

Marcel Ophüls (writer)

Release Date:

November 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography

Plot:

A documentary of the prozess against Klaus Barbie, the Gestapo chief of Lyon, and about his life after the war. |

Plot Keywords:

Gestapo | Concentration Camp | WWII | Nazi | Holocaust

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 4 wins

Cast

Klaus Barbie	...	Himself
Marcel Ophüls	...	Himself
Johannes Schneider-Merck	...	German Import-Exporter, Barbie's Neighbour in Lima
Raymond Lévy	...	Billiard Player in Lyon
Marcel Cruat	...	Billiard Player in Lyon
Henri Varlot	...	Billiard Player in Lyon
Pierre Mérindol	...	Journalist from Lyon
Johann Otten	...	Farmer, School Friend from Barbie's native village
Peter Minn	...	Wehrmacht Major, retired, Barbie's high school friend
Claude Bourdet	...	Resistance Leader
Eugene Kolb	...	Lt., C.I.C. Control Officer, retired, Barbie's former Superior
Lise Lesèvre	...	Member of the French Underground
Lucie Aubrac	...	Resistance Leader
Raymond Aubrac	...	Resistance Leader
Simone Lagrange	...	Auschwitz Survivor

Also Known As:

Hôtel Terminus: Klaus Barbie, sa vie et son temps
Hotel Terminus - Leben und Zeit von Klaus Barbie (West Germany)
Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie

Runtime:

Germany:267 min | USA:267 min

Country:

West Germany | France | USA

Language:

English | Spanish | French | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:12

Company:

Samuel Goldwyn Company, The

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Zomergasten: (#6.2)" (1993)

A Nazi story

I saw "Hôtel Terminus" as part of a cycle of films dealing with Second World War, its protagonists and its effects. This was the last in the series in chronological order, but the first I saw: it's the only one dealing with modern consequences of the war. It's what some people call a "talking heads", referring to documentaries made primarily of interviews. I did not know the term and heard it for the first time in the late 1980's in the Havana Film School. Students used it in a derogatory way. But as we all know, some talking heads are good. This one is, and a very good one. I am supposing that most everybody knows that Klaus Barbie was a Nazi agent, a torturer, then an anti-Communist spy for the CIA, that he escaped from Europe with the help of the Catholic Church and that he finally dealt with gun traffic in South America. He was caught, sent to France and judged in Lyon. In four hours and a half, Marcel Ophüls (who is not a very nice subject on camera), not only reconstructs Barbie's life, but he covers so much ground that it's noteworthy how his editors were able to maintain one's attention in so many persons, facts, dates and abundant references in the testimonies. I have been told that the film worked as an alert for the resurgence of neo-Nazis and the so-called "ordinary fascism". Well, it should be seen every now and then, because it seems that as long as there are human beings there will be totalitarians, traitors and assassins, and as long as there is a group of nations that want to control the world, there will be new holocausts. We all know that because of all the Klaus Barbies we have seen in power. This one won the Oscar as Best Documentary.