I saw this movie in Ghent (Belgium) at Filmplateau, the film club of the University. A chance out of a million i guess, and it was worth seeing it!!!
The movie was banned for years because of the fact that it was based on a true story that was not in advantage of the image of the Germans. Because of the unstable situation in central Europe, they didn't want to jeopardize the fragile atmosphere of peace. Many countries banned the movie without even seeing it, so they didn't know that their fear was totally unnecessary. For a viewer in 2005, it is now completely ridiculous - yet comprehensible because of the circumstances in 1928 - to ban it. There is nothing shocking about it at all... It is only a very honest movie.
The movie seemed to me to be very modern in the mise-en-scene. The choice of the images and the camera-work seemed to be better than other movies of that era. The second thing about the movie that is modern,is that the main characters are women. Four women are the ones who take the initiative to hide allied soldiers for the Germans. They take risks, they look for solutions, they help people, ... Most of the men in the movie are the ones dependent on them or just soldiers without a will. Men who just follow orders. Here it are the women who go against the flow. Strong women. For me this is totally not a reason why i should call it a feminist movie. Not every movie with strong females in the main roles is per definition feminist. But in this era of film-making (1928) it is a rather rare phenomenon in movies and it is all well done!!
A forgotten and neglected masterpiece, i gave it an 8/10
The movie was banned for years because of the fact that it was based on a true story that was not in advantage of the image of the Germans. Because of the unstable situation in central Europe, they didn't want to jeopardize the fragile atmosphere of peace. Many countries banned the movie without even seeing it, so they didn't know that their fear was totally unnecessary. For a viewer in 2005, it is now completely ridiculous - yet comprehensible because of the circumstances in 1928 - to ban it. There is nothing shocking about it at all... It is only a very honest movie.
The movie seemed to me to be very modern in the mise-en-scene. The choice of the images and the camera-work seemed to be better than other movies of that era. The second thing about the movie that is modern,is that the main characters are women. Four women are the ones who take the initiative to hide allied soldiers for the Germans. They take risks, they look for solutions, they help people, ... Most of the men in the movie are the ones dependent on them or just soldiers without a will. Men who just follow orders. Here it are the women who go against the flow. Strong women. For me this is totally not a reason why i should call it a feminist movie. Not every movie with strong females in the main roles is per definition feminist. But in this era of film-making (1928) it is a rather rare phenomenon in movies and it is all well done!!
A forgotten and neglected masterpiece, i gave it an 8/10