Directed by:
Heinrich BreloerScreenplay:
Heinrich BreloerCinematography:
Gernot RollCast:
Burghart Klaußner, Tom Schilling, Mala Emde, Franz Hartwig, Friederike Becht, Lou Strenger, Leonie Benesch, Anatole Taubman, Thimo Meitner, Adele Neuhauser (more)Plots(1)
After award-winning docu-dramas such as Die Manns - Ein Jahrhundertroman, Heinrich Breloer turns his attentions to the biography of the writer Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956). In a mixture of fiction and documentary, his film sketches a self-confident man who was nonetheless beset by doubts, full of a lust for life and vulnerability. Brecht’s art reflects his inner conflict and is closely linked to the political upheavals of the time. Following Brecht’s life from the beginning of World War I to his death, Breloer concentrates on Brecht’s relationships with his women and his colleagues at the Berliner Ensemble. Time and again, individual portraits are distilled from the extensive material, including that of Brecht’s wife Helene Weigel, who played the legendary role of ‘Mother Courage’; his protégé Martin Pohl, who was arrested by the Stasi; and Brecht’s collaborator and lover, Ruth Berlau. Excerpts from interviews with Brecht’s first love Paula Banholzer, directors Egon Monk and Manfred Wekwerth, actor Regine Lutz and many others contribute to this portrait of the icon of political theatre as a combative, loving and conflicted contemporary. (Berlinale)
(more)Cast
Filip Čáp
Czechoslovakia
Best movies:
Královský život otroka (1992) (TV movie)
Stalingrad (1993)
Legenda Emöke (1998) (TV movie)
Rafael Gareisen
Austria
Best movies:
Bridge of Spies (2015)
The Book Thief (2013)
Rivals Forever - The Sneaker Battle (2015) (TV movie)
Markus Hering
Best movies:
Gloomy Sunday (1999)
Solino (2002)
Heidi (2015)
Karolina Horster
West Germany
Best movies:
Polizeiruf 110 (1971) (series)
Kateřina Jandáčková
Czechoslovakia
Best movies:
Czech Century (2013) (series)
Bludičky (2010) (TV movie)
Flower Buds (2011)
Regine Lutz
Switzerland
Best movies:
The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975)
Tatort (1970) (series)
The Secret of the Wolf's Gorge (2008) (TV movie)
Philipp Schenker
Switzerland
Best movies:
Dechovka (2016) (theatrical recording)
Borg vs. McEnroe (2017)
Protector (2009)
Tomáš Slavíček
Best movies:
Rédl (2018) (series)
Ottilie von Faber-Castell – Eine mutige Frau (2019) (TV movie)
Román pro pokročilé (2019)
Kerstin Thielemann
East Germany
Best movies:
West (2013)
We Monsters (2015)
Polizeiruf 110 (1971) (series)
Hannes Wegener
East Germany
Best movies:
The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)
The Same Sky (2017) (series)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Stella Adorf
Switzerland
Best movies:
The Nasty Girl (1990)
Jessica McIntyre
Nigeria
Best movies:
In the Fade (2017)
Kebab Connection (2004)
Chiko (2008)
Manuel Zschunke
Best movies:
Never Look Away (2018)
Tadeáš Říha
Czech Republic
Best movies:
Rivals Forever - The Sneaker Battle (2015) (TV movie)
Child 44 (2015)
Last Knights (2015)
Maximilian Klas
Germany
Best movies:
The Flying Classroom (2003)
Polizeiruf 110 (1971) (series)
Looping (2016)
Martin Eugen Kulhánek
Czech Republic
Best movies:
The Old Blunderbuss Mystery (2011) (TV movie)
Pojedeme k moři (2014)
Flower Buds (2011)