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Storyline
Gunter Wallraff is a journalist seeking to expose the unethical journalism practiced by The Standard, a very popular and powerful German newspaper. He goes undercover, using forged identity papers and at great personal risk, to join their staff. Once there, he sees how they don't just report the news, but manufacture it to suit the personal political agenda of the paper's leaders. Written by
Tad Dibbern <DIBBERN_D@a1.mscf.upenn.edu>
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Did You Know?
Trivia
The newspaper featured in this film is in reality the German 'Bild-Zeitung'. The newspapers' founder
Axel Springer is played by
Manfred Andrae with his character named "Hermes Brauner".
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Goofs
Schultz gets into a BMW 7 series which didn't go in production until the late-'80s.
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Crazy Credits
Before the credits there is the following: 'LEAD STORY', Wallraff's expose of 'The Daily Standard', has become a best seller in Germany and throughout Western Europe. The Standard's readership dropped off 17% after the book's release, and the paper has been plagued by student demonstrations and lawsuits from its victims. However, nine million Germans still read it daily. In a subsequent ruling, the court prohibited Wallraff from mentioning any link between 'The Standard' and German State Security. The German League of Industrialists implemented a security program at all its major facilities to guard against future infiltration. Gunter Wallraff is currently working on a new project...somewhere in Germany.
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This true life story of an undercover German reporter, determined to discover the truth about media corruption, is fascinating. You can only admire the man's courage, and although I never quite got to grips with Peter Coyote's character - a very unusual role for this actor - it was a highly compelling story which didn't insult the viewers intelligence by spelling everything out, but allowed them to think for themselves. Juergen Prochnow's disguise was quite good, but it distracted me because he reminded me of some other actor, possibly James Woods, which nagged at me through the whole film. The relationship between Prochnow and his girlfriend was excellent. How anyone lived with a man like that is beyond me. Very interesting, and definitely one for people who like to have something to think about.