Taking Sides (2001)

Director:

István Szabó

Writers:

Ronald Harwood (play)
Ronald Harwood (screenplay)

Release Date:

7 March 2002 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama | Music | War

Plot:

A tale based on the life of Wilhelm Furtwangler, the controversial conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic...

Plot Keywords:

Conductor | Orchestra | Violinist | Archive Footage | Rowboat

Awards:

9 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Harvey Keitel	...	Major Steve Arnold
Stellan Skarsgård	...	Dr. Wilhelm Furtwängler
Moritz Bleibtreu	...	Lt. David Wills
Birgit Minichmayr	...	Emmi Straube
Ulrich Tukur	...	Helmut Alfred Rode, 2nd violinist
Oleg Tabakov	...	Colonel Dymshitz
Hanns Zischler	...	Rudolf Otto Werner, oboist
Armin Rohde	...	Schlee, timpanist
R. Lee Ermey	...	General Wallace
August Zirner	...	Captain Ed Martin
Daniel White	...	Sergeant Adams
Thomas Thieme	...	Reichsminister
Jed Curtis	...	Colonel Green
Garrick Hagon	...	Major Richards
Robin Renucci	...	Captain Vernay

Also Known As:

Der Fall Furtwängler (Austria)
Taking Sides - Der Fall Furtwängler (Germany)
Taking sides - Le cas Furtwängler (France)

Runtime:

108 min | Germany:142 min (TV version)

Country:

France | UK | Germany | Austria

Language:

English | Russian | French | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Australia:M | Argentina:13 | France:U | Germany:12 | Mexico:C | New Zealand:M | UK:15 | Netherlands:16

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

Paladin Production S.A.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: In one of the library scenes the boom mic and the arm holding it are clearly visible.

Soundtrack:

1ST & 4TH MOVEMENTS

A complicated historical episode

I came to this film with a detailed knowledge of the actual historical events. Many viewers will most likely be largely unfamiliar with the complexities of the case, and there are some details which are important, but glossed over.

For example: there are frequent references in the dialogue to Furtwängler's rival, Herbert von Karajan ("Little K.") Why did the Americans attack Furtwängler, and not von Karajan, who was an ardent Nazi? Furtwängler was prevented from conducting in the U.S., while von Karajan was lionized. Perhaps the makers of this film thought that the implications of this were too big to be discussed in the film. I'm sure that they didn't even want to go near the fact that the people who ran the de-nazification program were Americans with close ties to the Nazis themselves.

Also, Furtwängler's rationale for staying in Germany was somewhat more philosophical than the film implies. He thought he was defending the legacy of Mozart, Beethoven et al against the Nazis, and that this was a sacred responsibility. A bit of this comes out in the film, but in a superficial way.

With respect to the success of the film otherwise, Stellan Skarsgaard is excellent as Furtwängler, even managing to resemble him somewhat. I think that Harvey Keitel is somewhat hampered by the script -- the film would have been more successful if Keitel had come off as more conflicted and less one-dimensional. Clearly the director wished to imply that Keitel was conflicted, but that, as a military man, he was required to toe the line -- the frequent shots of Army indoctrination films (about how bad the Germans were) were intended to provide a rationale for Keitel's behavior. But the film would have been more compelling if Keitel were given an opportunity to express more doubts about what he was being asked to do. I also thought that the ending was a bit anticlimactic.