Walter Heynowski

  • Walter Heynowski & Gerhard Scheumann – Der lachende Mann – Bekenntnisse eines Mörders (1966)

    1961-1970Amos Vogel: Film as a Subversive ArtDocumentaryGerhard ScheumannGermanyPoliticsWalter Heynowski

    Amos Vogel, Film as a Subversive Art:
    Posing as a West German TV production crew, the two East German directors of this film persuaded a former leading German mercenary of the Congo civil war (one of many!) to discuss his activities and heroic achievements in what is surely one of the most sensational exposés of its kind. Continually smiling or laughing, this man, a self-acknowledged Nazi, proudly reveals that he went to the Congo to save Western civilization from Bolshevism – to complete the work of the Nazis. Dressed in his military jungle uniform (with his Second World War decorations) he waxes eloquent about the ‘colours’ of South Africa, ‘explains’ apartheid, and freely discusses his ‘adventures’. Shots of corpses, tortures, and executions of Blacks are intercut. It is not often that one can see and hear a real, ‘live’ Nazi in action, talking (more or less) freely because he presumed himself to be among friends instead of with two of the most clever political propagandists of our time, working for the other side.Read More »

  • Walter Heynowski – O.K. (1964)

    1961-1970Amos Vogel: Film as a Subversive ArtDocumentaryGermanyPoliticsWalter Heynowski

    Quote:
    This fascinating and unique film is unfortunately almost entirely unknown in the West. The girl Doris S. leaves East Germany in 1961 to join her father in West Germany. Three years later, she returns and tells the camera why she returned. The reason is simple: West Germany is a country or moral and sexual corruption, full of bars, American soldiers, American cars, alcohol, and prostitution. Doris S. succumbed to both commercial sex and drinking, but finally decided to return to clean living in East Germany. Clearly designed to discourage actual or potential emigration from East into West Germany, the film nevertheless operates on a second, unintended level as well. For in this lengthy interview, Doris reveals non-verbal and unmistakable signs of fear and coercion, reinforced by the stentorian, Prussian style of the interviewer (rather, cross-examiner).Read More »

  • Walter Heynowski – Aktion J (1961)

    Amos Vogel: Film as a Subversive ArtDocumentaryGermanyWalter Heynowski

    Quote:
    Compilation film, tracing the political career of Dr. Hans Globke, allegedly a former Nazi, now Secretary of State in West Germany.

    Included in Amos Vogel’s classic book Film as a Subversive Art.Read More »

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