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German Cinema: WWII aftermath

Films made immediately after the war.

Rotation

Wolfgang Staudte’s 1949 release Rotation continues the director’s engagement with postwar German society. Produced by the East-German company DEFA, Rotation tells the story of an unassuming worker in a printshop, who does not like the National Socialists but avoids confronting them in order to safeguard his employment and his modest standard of living. As the war drags on, however, he becomes drawn into the subversive work of an underground resistance group, and is eventually betrayed to the Gestapo by his own son.

Using the family as framework to explore questions of guilt, responsibility, and forgiveness, Staudte’s film is one of very few Trümmerfilme (rubble films) who directly thematizes the role of the bystanders and “normal” people.

• Year:
• 1949
• Runtime:
• 79 minutes
• Language:
• German
• Director:
• Wolfgang Staudte
• Screenwriter:
• Fritz Staudte, Erwin Klein, Wolfgang Staudte
• Cast:
• Paul Esser, Reinhard Kolldehoff, Werner Peters
• Editor:
• Lilian Seng
• Composer:
• H. W. Wiemann