The Legend of Rita – Wellington Film Society

Volker Schlöndorff, Germany 2000, 103 minutes HD M violence, sex scenes, nudity.

A powerful, gripping exploration of the true story of a 70s West German terrorist turned East German übercitizen… The Legend of Rita recalls an entire lost era, where personal and political issues were at the forefront of European filmmaking. After a series of terrorist acts in the West, members of the militant Red Army Faction (RAF) are offered, by the Stasi, lives as normal proletariat, complete with assumed identities and manufactured pasts (or ‘legends’).

The film descends to a more muted , but equally absorbing level when Rita (Bibiana Beglau) begins her life as a factory worker and strikes up a burgeoning friendship with the hard-drinking, disillusioned Tatijana (Nadja Uhl). A more convincing, even-handed portrait of life behind the Iron Curtain has never been seen; here it’s shown as a combination of stagnation, muted rebellion and resigned acceptance. Ironically, Rita emerges as the regime’s most vocal defender.

But, before long her cover is blown and she must assume another ‘legend’. In collaboration with East German screenwriter Wolfgang Kohlhäase (whose extensive research was based heavily on the biographies of former RAF members), director Volker Schlöndorff has returned to form and fully illuminated an episode of contemporary German history that was only revealed with the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Vancouver International Film Festival 2000.
Screened in co-operation with the Goethe Institut.