By Scarlet von poten

Presentation Outline Film Facts Berlin in 1947 - 1948 Plot Summary Main characters Director Roberto Rossellini Reception Bibliography

Film facts Release date: 1st December 1948 Directed by: Roberto Rossellini Running time: 78 minutes Country of origin: Italy Set in Allied-occupied Germany Third film to an unofficial World War 11 trilogy by Roberto Rossellini known as his War Trilogy

Berlin in 1947 - 1948 World War 11 ended on the 8th May 1945, leaving much of Berlin in ruins. Between 1945 and 1949 Germany was split into four occupation zones for administrative purposes. They were occupied by the allied powers who defeated Germany – The Soviet Union, United Kingdom, United States and France. West Berlin was occupied by UK, France and the USA. East Berlin was occupied by the USSR. Breakdown of east-west allied cooperation from June 1948 till 1949 with the Soviet imposition of the Berlin Blockades.

Plot SUmmary Set in bombed ruins of Berlin 12 year old Edmund Koehler struggles to support his family –his malnourished and ill father, his brother, a former Nazi soldier hiding to avoid arrest and his sister, who is on the brink of considering prostitution. He meets his former teacher who has a sexual attraction to the boy. The teacher, Herr Henning, introduces him to the Black Market and instils into him the Nazi propaganda about having the courage to leave the weak behind. This film depicts the confused protagonist and his journey down a tragic path. Rossellini stated that he wanted to "tell a story of a child, of an innocent creature which a distorted 'utopian' education induced to commit murder in the belief that he was performing a heroic gesture. But a feeble light of morality is not yet extinguished in him; driven by those small gleams of conscious, confused, he commits suicide."

Main characters Protagonist: Edmund Koehler Father: Mr. Koehler Sister: Eva Koehler Brother: Karl-Heinz Koehler Antagonist: Herr Henning

Director Roberto rossellini A filmmaker important to the Italian Neorealist movement. He casted the cast almost at random wondering though the streets of Berlin so they were mainly local, non-professional actors. Rossellini was also the main director and script writer – although for the most part he asked the actors to improvise their dialogue. When interviewed about his ideas on realism he stated that “realism is nothing other than the artistic from of truth” He dedicated the film to his son, Romano, who died in 1946, at the age of 9 from an emergency surgery for an inflamed appendix. He said that the whole film “was conceived specifically for the scene with the child wandering on his own through the ruins . . . I only [felt] sure of myself at this decisive moment.”

reception Rossellini personally stated that: "I don't think it's possible to say more bad things about a film than were said about Germany Year Zero.“ It won the Golden Leopard and the Best Director award at the Locarno International Film Festival. , L'Écran français called it revolutionary, and Charlie Chaplin said it was "the most beautiful Italian film" he had ever seen. However, many critics said the film was melodramatic and unrealistic. In 1949 Austrian film critic Hans Habe called it "a terrifying film...not artistically, but because it would be terrifying if the world saw the new Germany as Rossellini does.

Bibliography Wikipedia, Germany Year Zero: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany,_Year_Zero BFI player, Germany Year Zero: https://player.bfi.org.uk/subscription/film/watch-germany-year-zero-1948- online Pasquale Iannone, 2009,Sense of Cinema:, Germany, Year Zero: http://sensesofcinema.com/2009/cteq/germany-year-zero/ Grunes, 2007, Germany, Year Zero: https://grunes.wordpress.com/2007/02/27/germany-year-zero- roberto-rossellini-1947/ The Humanity of the Defeated: Germany Year Zero, 2009: https://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/2017/12/the-humanity-of-the-defeated-germany-year-zero-tk/ Wikipedia, Allied-Occupied Germany: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied-occupied_Germany