(Note: this film is based on director Konrad Wolf's 1945 diary. It is, therefore, pretty much an autobiographical story about his own life and experiences.)
In 1934, to escape Hitler, a German Jewish family flees to Russia. In 1945, the son, now a nineteen year-old lieutenant, returns as a member of the Soviet army. Among the many things he experiences on his way to Berlin is a tour of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. There a demonstration of the workings of a gas chamber is performed. The film as a whole, however, suffers greatly from having been produced in East Germany. The protagonist's Jewish identity is never introduced. This seriously weakens the ambiguous impact of his return "home." Also, in general, the Russian soldiers invading Berlin behaved badly. For example, a hundred thousand rapes or more are said to have occurred. Yet, the film presents not even a whiff of this. Indeed, only one German girl is shown to be worried, and she is reassured and sent upon her way. Meanwhile, throughout all the movie, Soviet personnel deport themselves in noble and gentlemanly ways. Thus, a potentially realistic classic is ultimately doomed by ideology.
In 1934, to escape Hitler, a German Jewish family flees to Russia. In 1945, the son, now a nineteen year-old lieutenant, returns as a member of the Soviet army. Among the many things he experiences on his way to Berlin is a tour of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. There a demonstration of the workings of a gas chamber is performed. The film as a whole, however, suffers greatly from having been produced in East Germany. The protagonist's Jewish identity is never introduced. This seriously weakens the ambiguous impact of his return "home." Also, in general, the Russian soldiers invading Berlin behaved badly. For example, a hundred thousand rapes or more are said to have occurred. Yet, the film presents not even a whiff of this. Indeed, only one German girl is shown to be worried, and she is reassured and sent upon her way. Meanwhile, throughout all the movie, Soviet personnel deport themselves in noble and gentlemanly ways. Thus, a potentially realistic classic is ultimately doomed by ideology.