Taking Sides

Starring:Harvey Keitel, Stellan SkarsgÃ¥rd, Moritz Bleibtreu, Birgit Minichmayr, Ulrich Tukur, Oleg Tabakov, Hanns Zischler, Armin Rohde, R. Lee Ermey, August Zirner, Daniel White, Thomas Thieme, Jed Curtis, Garrick Hagon, Robin Renucci, Markus Heinicke, Aleksander Tesla, Jarreth J. Merz, Holger Schober, Frank Leboeuf
Director: IstvÃ¡n SzabÃ³
Studio: New Yorker Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
An impassioned clash of art and politics lies at the heart of Taking Sides, a historical drama that resonates with timeless relevance. Director Istvan Szabo remained in his native Hungary during Soviet occupation, and that experience clearly informed his approach to this fact-based film about Wilhelm Furtwangler, the celebrated conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, who chose to remain in Germany as the Nazis rose to power. World War II has ended, and now Furtwangler (superbly played by Stellan SkarsgÃ¢rd) must endure intense interrogation by Steve Arnold (Harvey Keitel), a pugnacious U.S. Army major assigned to root out Nazi collaborators. While the overzealous Arnold deals in moral absolutes, Furtwangler's embrace of art for art's sake opens him up to charges that he supported Hitler, intentionally or not, by naively believing that art and politics could remain separate in the cauldron of the Third Reich. Based on the play by Ronald Harwood (The Pianist), Taking Sides presents a compelling collision of ideologies, probing complex personal and political motivations while presenting an authentic, emotionally charged portrait of German culture immediately following Hitler's demise. Despite its title, the film itself remains neutral regarding its central argument, leaving the viewer to ponder the weighty issues involved. --Jeff Shannon
Description
From the Academy Award" winning writer of The Pianist comes the provocative story, based on true events, of Wilhelm FurtwÃ¤ngler, arguably the most distinguished conductor of his generation.

After Hitler took over power in 1933, many Jewish artists were forced to leave Germany. Wilhelm FurtwÃ¤ngler (Stellan SkarsgÃ¥rd) chose to stay, serving as one of the Nazi`s foremost cultural assets. Though never a member of the Party, FurtwÃ¤ngler was the recipient of government honors and appointments, associated with party members. However, the conductor often used his position and contacts to save hundreds of Jewish musicians from the concentration camps.

When Major Steve Arnold (Harvey Keitel) is given the task of carrying out pre-trial investigations against FurtwÃ¤ngler, his aim is to prove that the conductor's artistic genius contributed to the Nazi propaganda machine and their destructive ideology. Conversely, FurtwÃ¤ngler insists he chose to stay to bring comfort to the German people with his music.

Amazon.com

An impassioned clash of art and politics lies at the heart of Taking Sides, a historical drama that resonates with timeless relevance. Director Istvan Szabo remained in his native Hungary during Soviet occupation, and that experience clearly informed his approach to this fact-based film about Wilhelm Furtwangler, the celebrated conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, who chose to remain in Germany as the Nazis rose to power. World War II has ended, and now Furtwangler (superbly played by Stellan Skarsgârd) must endure intense interrogation by Steve Arnold (Harvey Keitel), a pugnacious U.S. Army major assigned to root out Nazi collaborators. While the overzealous Arnold deals in moral absolutes, Furtwangler's embrace of art for art's sake opens him up to charges that he supported Hitler, intentionally or not, by naively believing that art and politics could remain separate in the cauldron of the Third Reich. Based on the play by Ronald Harwood (The Pianist), Taking Sides presents a compelling collision of ideologies, probing complex personal and political motivations while presenting an authentic, emotionally charged portrait of German culture immediately following Hitler's demise. Despite its title, the film itself remains neutral regarding its central argument, leaving the viewer to ponder the weighty issues involved. --Jeff Shannon

Description

From the Academy Award" winning writer of The Pianist comes the provocative story, based on true events, of Wilhelm Furtwängler, arguably the most distinguished conductor of his generation.

After Hitler took over power in 1933, many Jewish artists were forced to leave Germany. Wilhelm Furtwängler (Stellan Skarsgård) chose to stay, serving as one of the Nazi`s foremost cultural assets. Though never a member of the Party, Furtwängler was the recipient of government honors and appointments, associated with party members. However, the conductor often used his position and contacts to save hundreds of Jewish musicians from the concentration camps.

When Major Steve Arnold (Harvey Keitel) is given the task of carrying out pre-trial investigations against Furtwängler, his aim is to prove that the conductor's artistic genius contributed to the Nazi propaganda machine and their destructive ideology. Conversely, Furtwängler insists he chose to stay to bring comfort to the German people with his music.

Like a master conductor, director István Szabó orchestrates the debate from cat-and-mouse intensity. Taking Sides is that rare film that demands the audience to take a position on an issue: in this case, the complicity or innocence of Wilhelm Furtwängler.

Customer Reviews:

Strange Role Reversals.......2007-01-22

A previous reviewer opined that if you're a conservative you'll find yourself sympathetic to Furtwangler's persecutor, Maj. Arnold (played brilliantly by Harvey Keitel); if you're a liberal you'll root for Furtwangler (played just a briliantly by Skarsgard). Huh? I'm to the right of Ghenghis Khah but even I saw in the Arnold character a reprisal of Roland Freisler's real-life prosecutorial style. Freisler from 1942 to his death in a bombing raid (saved him from hanging at Nurnberg I'm sure) was president of the infamous Volksgerichtshof (People's Court). He sentenced Sophie Scholl and the other White Rose conspirators to death, represented Nazi justice at the Wannsee Conference where the Holocaust was planned, and prosecuted the officers who tried to assassinate Hitler (the Twentieth of July 1944 Plot)(see how it is used in this movie). In fact Maj. Arnold's prosecutorial style reminded me vividly of Freisler's. To imply that conservative Americans would be attracted to the Arnold character, or that liberals wouldn't, is an insult to both camps. (See "Trial of Strength," by Fred Prieberg if you want to learn more about Wilhelm Furtwanger and the Third Reich.) Yes, Furtwangler furthered the Nazi cause with his art and he accepted vast rewards for his work on its behalf. Did he act from political convictions, professional hubris or was he just plain gullible? Well, watch the movie.

Appalling Revisionism.......2006-10-18

Taking Sides is based on the story of the de-Nazification trial German conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler.

For those who don't know, Furtwangler refused to leave Germany after the Nazi regime took power, turning down an offer to succeed Arturo Toscanini as conductor of the New York Philharmonic. He also declined membership in the Nazi party. Walking a tightrope, he conducted for Adolf Hitler's 53rd birthday, while refusing to give the Nazi salute. Furtwangler's position was that politics and art must be kept separate. Beethoven would have disagreed and there are very few artists today, musical or otherwise, who would support Furtwangler's contention.

Stellan Skarsgard neither looks like Furtwangler, acts like Furtwangler, nor makes any attempt to replicate the conductor's idiosyncratic baton technique. Harvey Keitel gives a one-dimensional performance as Major Arnold, who was in charge of prosecuting, or in the filmmakers' view, persecuting the conductor.

From the start, the Americans, with the exception of a German born American, are portrayed as culturally retarded, tone deaf, and driven by vengeance. It is shameful that such a distinguished cast would consent to perform in such a ham handed display of anti-American fatuousness.

Furtwangler's role -- or lack thereof -- in Nazi Germany has been examined from many sides and merits serious discussion, not only for Furtwangler's culpability -- or lack thereof -- but as commentary of the role of the artist in society in general. This film, which provides neither balance nor depth, does not advance that discussion.

"Kulturreligion" vs Justice.......2006-09-04

With the decline of traditional moral and religious beliefs in Germany
and other parts of Europe in the 19th and early part of the 20th century, a new "worship" of the arts and culture came to take its place which was called "Kulturreligion"-the "religion" of culture. That is why in many European cities, the central hall for the performance of opera and classica music is called "the Palace of Culture" or some such name, whereas in America, where this "kulturreligion" never caught on to the degree it did in Europe, they simply have names like "Lincoln Center" or "Carnegie Hall".
Wilhelm Furtwangler, the conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic during the period of "the Third Reich" of Nazi horror, was one of the "high priests" of this Kulturreligion. Thus, he, and the members of his orchestra are appalled when he finds himself forced to account for his collaboration with the Nazi regime. This outstanding film shows the confrontation between Maj. Steve Arnold (played brilliantly by Harvey Keitel), who views it has his job to bring the Nazis and their sympathizers to justice, and Furtwangler who keeps insisting that "Kultur and politics must be kept separate" which he believes exempts him from any responsibilty for his actions. We hear he and his musicians coming up with lame excuses why they performed at the Nuremberg Party Rallies and a birthday celebration for Hitler. They claim that really Furtwangler was a big hero because he managed to avoid giving the Nazi salute by walking on-stage holding his conductor's baton in his right hand. On the other hand, this "high priest" of Kultur was found to have used his position and close connections with the regime in order to have a hostile music critic sent to the Russian Front to perish at Stalingrad.
Much of this is predictable, but the real punch the film gives occurs when Maj. Arnold's assistant, Lt Wills, who is a Jewish refugee from Germany and whose family members were destroyed in the Holocaust, in addition to his secretary, whose father was executed as a result of his involvement in the unsuccessful 20 July 1944 Bomb Plot on Hitler's Life, end up DEFENDING Furtwangler, claiming that Maj. Arnold is too harsh on him.
This shows how insidious this "Kulturreligion" cult came to be.
Maj. Arnold confronts Lt. Wills and says "You are a Jew, how can you defend him?". The Jews fell into "Kulturreligion"'s web doubly, not only using it as a crutch to replace their traditional Jewish religious and moral code, (just as the German non-Jews with their traditional morality), but they thought it would be their "entry card" into "cultured" German society, from which they had been previously excluded. Even when "cultured" Germany turned into a monstrous, barbaric tyranny, Jews like Lt. Wills seem strangely attracted to it and Arnold's secretary admits that her father only turned against the regime when it was clear that Germany was going to lose the war.
The lesson of this film is that justice and morality can be too easily waved away by false deities and without a clear moral compass, even the most "civilized" people, AND EVEN their victims
can fall into the abyss. A warning for our time as well.

Well done but underdone. A great underacheivement!.......2006-09-04

This movie went far, just not far enough. It brimmed with intriguing thought-provoking dialogue offered via reasonably consistent quality acting. Exploration of the few characters in cast was above stereotypical. As a thought-provoking medium on de-Nazification of post-war Germany it scores on several levels, however the tragedy is that this movie held within it's immediate grasp seeds of magnificient opportunity which might have bloomed with a bit more complex plotwork. As a result, it felt more like a 'piece of a movie', for just as another 'session' of the interrogating winds down and you expect a plot twist to flare, the end credits start rolling when you're halfway through your popcorn.

Art for Facists?.......2006-07-27

A fascinating study of the "de-nazification" of conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler (perhaps the most famous and respected musician of his time prior to World War II, and through much of the war as well, at least in the Third Reich) Furtwangler refused to do the Nazi salute and never actually joined the party, helped many Jewish musicians, and tried to get the music of the so called "entartete musik" (degenerate music, ultimately even music composed by Jews, such as Franz Schreker and Gustav Mahler. Problematic "philosophical" music by Paul Hindemith was also included.) Furtwangler was removed from his position as Music Director of the Berlin Philharmonic for trying to champion Hindemith's "Mathis der Maler". Furtwangler was never reticent to take the offense with party leaders, with the exception of Hitler himself. But he tacitly accepted the control of his programming, even though he was forbiddin to conduct music by Felix Mendelssohn or any composer with the "taint" of "Jewishness"!
This is an intriguing interpretation of Furtwangler's trying to be understood by a rabidly American anti-Nazi. There are more than 2 sides to Furtwangler's story. Herbert von Karajan HAD joined the Nazi Party twice, but he was de-Nazified far more quickly and was back on the podium well before Furtwangler. Can art be used to further evil intentions? Watch for the short historic footage at the film's ending, when Hitler shakes hands with Furtwangler. This film will have you asking more questions than are answered regarding the artist's responsibility and culpability when living in a plainly devilish machine. Google Furtwangler after you view this must-see cinematic question mark and see what you think. The parts are well played, and the story is spun out in a profound manner. But is it all this simple?
Order the film and try to put your self in each of the two protagonists moral positions. Nuf said.

Charlie Rose with Willie Williams; Ed Harris & Daniel Massey; Amy Heckerling (November 13, 1996)

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Charlie Rose with Willie Williams; Ed Harris & Daniel Massey; Amy Heckerling (November 13, 1996)

Manufacturer: Charlie Rose
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Description

First, LAPD chief Willie Williams talks about his work and progress to rid the city of Los Angeles of racial tensions, public mistrust and crime. Then, Ed Harris and Daniel Massey speak about their new Broadway play, Taking Sides, which is set in post-war Berlin. Finally, director Amy Heckerling discusses the adaptation of her smash movie Clueless into a television series airing on ABC.

Requiem Por Un Imperio (Taking Sides) [NTSC/REGION 1 & 4 DVD. Import-Latin America]

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Requiem Por Un Imperio (Taking Sides) [NTSC/REGION 1 & 4 DVD. Import-Latin America]
Director: István Szabó
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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