This is the main question for audiences and characters in this German small-screen movie from 2005. It is already over a decade old and scored big at awards ceremonies back then. The director is the highly prolific Matti Geschonneck and the story is the only IMDb writing credit by Alexander Osang. The star in here, however, is lead actor Jan Josef Liefers and this is certainly one of the better performances and films from his long career. The film's title "Die Nachrichten" means literally translated "The News" as this one is about a journalist who manages to become a news anchor before the suspicion that he may have worked for the Stasi has a big negative impact on his career. The action here rarely happens to Liefers' character himself, even if he is constantly in the middle of it all. It's much more about the journalists and shadows from his past and how they are linked to him. It is a bit of a bleak film, nothing alike "The Newsroom" for example and the title may also not have been the greatest choice as the Nachrichten television program only plays a minor role in the overall picture. What is the best thing about it? Maybe the authenticity because I had the impression from start to finish that I was watching genuine characters. It all feels extremely authentic, but that's almost a given with Henry Hübchen on board. And for audiences it was also interesting because they could guess themselves if he was with the Stasi or not until the big revelation towards the end and this is what I was referring to at the start of my review. By the way, I quite liked the revelation and explanation. It was nothing really to be expected, but it did make sense in my opinion. So yes this was a good piece overall and I enjoyed the watch for the most part. Sure it has some weak dialogue writing at times, but it was tolerable and not too much and even if it's nowhere near best of the year material, it trumps most other small screen stuff from Germany. I can see why it received such a positive reception. Go check it out.
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