Taking Sides

Reviewed by Shelley Cameron

for Reel Movie Critic

HHHH

Cast

Harvey Keitel Major Steve Arnold

Stellan Skarsgård Dr. Wilhelm Furtwängler

Moritz Bleibtreu Lt. David Wills

Birgit Minichmayr Emmi Straube

Directed by István Szabó. Drama. Not Rated. 105 minutes.

A deal with the devil

Moving and powerful examination of complicity with the nazi regime of the German people, specifically, of prominent and privileged German artists, and its impact on aiding Hitler's rise. Real life symphony conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler was brought under investigation in the American de-nazification process following World War II. Stellan Skarsgård portrays Furtwängler and Harvey Keitel is army major Steve Arnold, the man whose express mission it was to make sure he was found guilty. The army wanted a high profile example to show the world that those who continued to thrive during the war, in this case to exercise their art, were in fact guilty of supporting Hitler. The focus is on the inherent conflicts over the opposing prospects of acting with courage or cowardice, of self-preservation, of guilt by association, of the right to judge, and of the separation of politics and art.

Based on the play by Ronald Harwood, this is a provocative inquisition into the real and implied compromises made by people that allow them to function in their own best interest and conversely, the judgements they face by those who are not forced to make the same choices. While most Jewish musicians were forced to leave Germany in the early 1930's, non-Jew Furtwängler stayed. After the war and confronted by Keitel's ferocious Major Arnold, he is outraged, shaken, and revolted at being placed under the magnifying glass of one who so clearly holds him in contempt. For the entire film wearing the wounded and stunned look of a man who can't believe his situation, Skarsgård manages the difficult task of revealing subtle shades of shock, guilt, despair, and indignation. He crumbles as Arnold pounds him with photos, witnesses, and any scrap of evidence that might convict and expose him as a potent commercial for the Third Reich.

Pushy, obnoxious, and smart, Arnold's civilian career as a relentlessly dogged insurance man helps him to stack the deck in his favor. The perfect casting of his two young assistants, Emmi and David, Jews and victims of the persecution, ensures their reactive participation in the case against Furtwängler. What Arnold does not anticipate, and thus confounds him, is the reverence with which the young secretary and soldier regard the conductor as a musician and the compassion they find within themselves for this man, compassion Arnold lacks. In large measure a war of words, "Taking Sides" is energetically accentuated by bold cinematography, showing archival footage of the death camps, and pits it against the opulence and deadly decadence of the Nazis with lush scenes bathed in golden light.

The commanding score is central to the theme and amplifies the force of music as Furtwängler's motivating, sustaining art. Far from ancient history, the issues raised are dynamic and contemporary. The same discussion could be had, for example, regarding the slaughter of innocent and guilty alike in various parts of the globe as a cool television news camera records the events but does nothing to stop them.