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Title: Taking Sides (2001)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| 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 | |
A tale based on the life of Wilhelm Furtwangler, the controversial conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic whose tenure coincided with the controversial Nazi era. One of the most spectacular and renowned conductors of the 1930s, Furtwangler's reputation rivalled that of Toscanini's. After the war, he was investigated as part of the Allies' de-Nazification program. In the bombed-out Berlin of the immediate post-war period, the Allies slowly bring law and order, and justice, to bear in an occupied Germany. An American Major is given the Furtwangler file, and is told to find everything he can and to prosecute the man ruthlessly. Tough and hard-nosed, Major Steve Arnold sets out to investigate a world of which he knows nothing. Orchestra members vouch for Furtwangler's morality. He did what he could to protect Jewish players from his orchestra. To the Germans, deeply respectful of their musical heritage, Furtwangler was a demigod; to Major Arnold, he is just a lying, weak-willed Nazi. Written by Sujit R. Varma
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Hungarian filmmaker István Szabó returned to the screen in 2001, with this adaptation of Ronald Harwood's stage play about the controversial case of Wilhelm Furtwängler, the most famous orchestra conductor in Germany during the Nazi regime. A study of opposing points of view on the meaning and value of art, but above all a confrontation of different cultures and world visions. The case is conducted by an American commander, whose vulgarity and narrow-mindedness (with simplistic definitions of right, wrong, democracy, etc., echoing the position of some Americans) is contrasted with Furtwängler's sensibility. Harvey Keitel is an excellent choice for the military, while Stellan Skarsgård brings aplomb and dignity as Furtwängler, who has the support of Keitel's assistants (played by Birgit Minichmayr, and Moritz Bleibtreu of 'Run, Lola, Run' fame.) A short film, considering the length of Szabó's films as 'Mephisto' and 'Colonel Redl.'