Friday, December 18, 2015

The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975)

Volker Schlöndorff and Margarethe von Trotta's Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum (1975), spotlights the main character, Katharina Blum, in a way that underscores the exuberance of mid-70s feminism. 
Found chart courtesy of the internet. 
Combine global male resistance to independent women with fear and panic over security and terrorism, and voila, you've got a film ready-made for the 21st century. 
The movie is based on Heinrich Böll's darkly satirical 1974 novel, Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum oder: Wie Gewalt entstehen und wohin sie führen kann /  The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum, or: How Violence Develops and Where it can Lead. 
The almost absurdly intrusive surveillance and media system depicted in the film might seem beyond belief were it not for a series of similarly themed dystopian science fiction works -- and actual historical developments still being played out. 
Angela Winkler is key to the success of The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum. As she would later do playing "the eel-eating woman" in Volker Schlöndorff's Academy Award winning The Tin Drum (1979), she delivers here with total commitment.

Today's Rune: Breakthrough.  

  

3 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

Have not read the novel but it sounds like I'd enjoy it.

Vesper said...

Interesting! I remember seeing this movie at the Cinematheque...

Barbara Bruederlin said...

How intriguing! I must dig deeper into this.