Welcome in Vienna
Original post date: 3 June 1987
Rating: ✭✭✭✰
This is the final part of The Austrian Trilogy, and these three films are truly a monumental film achievement, even though they are filmed in black and white (better to blend in with documentary footage) and obviously didn’t cost a fortune to make. I hope these films will get more exposure in this country. In this installment, our friend Freddy is now a U.S. citizen and soldier, whose knowledge of German is exploited by the Allies, as they push through Germany. He winds up with the occupation army back in his hometown of Vienna. But things are drastically different, and I’m not just talking about half the buildings being blown up. Now Freddy is one of the conquerors. His U.S. Army uniform makes him privileged in this defeated country, a status he has never known before in his life as a “professional emigrant.” But Freddy’s expectations of what post-war Austria would be like are dashed one by one. His former persecutors are de-nazified because, after all, a full third of the population were members of the Nazi party and life must go on, nicht wahr? And a new ethic of scrambling to get by any way you can has taken hold. Who you know is more important than ever. Freddy falls in love with Claudia, an actress whose father was a Nazi officer and is now in the U.S. where our government is gratefully accepting his cooperation as he shares his knowledge of the Soviet military. Another acquaintance, a member of the SS, immediately goes back into successful private life, his Nazi past conveniently swept under the carpet. Who knows? Maybe some day he will be elected president of Austria. It turns out that Claudia is using Freddy because of his position, just as everybody is using everybody else. When Freddy is due to be transferred back to the U.S., he must decide whether to go back or to reclaim his Austrian citizenship. Although, when he takes off his uniform, he finds that people still see him as just Jewish trash, it looks like he is going to stay. But the festival program notes suggest that there may be more sequels to this saga. Let’s hope so.
Rating: ✭✭✭✰
This is the final part of The Austrian Trilogy, and these three films are truly a monumental film achievement, even though they are filmed in black and white (better to blend in with documentary footage) and obviously didn’t cost a fortune to make. I hope these films will get more exposure in this country. In this installment, our friend Freddy is now a U.S. citizen and soldier, whose knowledge of German is exploited by the Allies, as they push through Germany. He winds up with the occupation army back in his hometown of Vienna. But things are drastically different, and I’m not just talking about half the buildings being blown up. Now Freddy is one of the conquerors. His U.S. Army uniform makes him privileged in this defeated country, a status he has never known before in his life as a “professional emigrant.” But Freddy’s expectations of what post-war Austria would be like are dashed one by one. His former persecutors are de-nazified because, after all, a full third of the population were members of the Nazi party and life must go on, nicht wahr? And a new ethic of scrambling to get by any way you can has taken hold. Who you know is more important than ever. Freddy falls in love with Claudia, an actress whose father was a Nazi officer and is now in the U.S. where our government is gratefully accepting his cooperation as he shares his knowledge of the Soviet military. Another acquaintance, a member of the SS, immediately goes back into successful private life, his Nazi past conveniently swept under the carpet. Who knows? Maybe some day he will be elected president of Austria. It turns out that Claudia is using Freddy because of his position, just as everybody is using everybody else. When Freddy is due to be transferred back to the U.S., he must decide whether to go back or to reclaim his Austrian citizenship. Although, when he takes off his uniform, he finds that people still see him as just Jewish trash, it looks like he is going to stay. But the festival program notes suggest that there may be more sequels to this saga. Let’s hope so.
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