No. 48 (2022) THE LAST EXECUTION (NAHSCHUSS) German Film Festival June 19th.

 

Film No. 48 (2022)  June  19th.  4.40 PM   Cinema 5.  LUNA,  Leederville.

 

"It is a Biro ring. Every time you shower you can draw a new one". (Corina explains to Franz that he needn't buy her a ring. They simply draw a new ring on their finger after washing. They shall always be linked by a Biro ring).

THE LAST EXECUTION is the re-enactment of the series of unfortunate events in communist East Germany which led to the execution (the last in DRG) of Professor Werner Teske in 1981. Here, his fictional name is Dr Franz Walter but make no mistake, it is Teske's story.

Execution? Professor? Germany? 1980/81? I hear you ask. It is all true. Just another of the dastardly stories emanating from East Germany between 1946 and 1989, ending with the demolition of the wall separating East and West Berlin . 

The gritty retell has Lars Eidinger playing the luckless academic, minding his own business, hopelessly in love with soon to be wife Corina (Luise Heyer) being offered a job he couldn't refuse by The State. He soon finds out The State operates as a persecutor at a depth he is soon drowning in. He needs to confide, but, who can he trust? How does he escape to the west? Will he be to able exit in time? You guessed it, NO!

I'm of an age, when some stories from the DRG amounted to major human rights issues. The Iron Curtain was just that. The stories of supposed executions and people going missing were veiled in secrecy. NAHSCHUSS sheds a little light on the numerous executions that occurred not so long ago. There is nothing feel-good here. I walked from the cinema with a sick, sad empty feeling. 9GUMS.