''The Rabbit Is Me'' (german: Das Kaninchen bin ich) is an
East German
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
dramatic film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Kurt Maetzig
Kurt Maetzig (25 January 1911 – 8 August 2012) was a German film director who had a significant effect on the film industry in East Germany. He was one of the most respected filmmakers of the GDR. After his retirement he lived in Wildkuh ...
. It was filmed in 1965, and based on the novel by .
Plot
Nineteen-year-old Maria Morzeck dreams of studying
Slavistics
Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...
, but her hopes are shattered when her brother, Dieter, is sent to prison after being convicted of sedition against the state. She cannot enter college, and becomes a waitress. Maria meets and falls in love with Paul Deister, an older, married man who turns out to be the judge who convicted her brother. Their affair ends when Deister is exposed as hypocritical and corrupt. After Dieter's release, he learns of his sister's relationship with the judge and assaults her. Eventually, Maria distances herself from both of them, and decides to pursue her forgotten dream.
Cast
Production
The film was based on Manfred Bieler's book ''Maria Morzeck or the Rabbit is Me''. It was made in the aftermath of the VI Party Congress of the
Socialist Unity Party at January 1963, during which the establishment allowed a measure of liberalization in the cultural life of East Germany. Although Bieler's novel was highly critical of the court system, he and Maetzig took care to include several "alibi scenes" in the film that were intended to put the state in a better light and also prevent the banning of the picture. The scenes were also meant to present the judicial reforms that took place between 1961 and 1963.
Reception
The short era of liberalization ended gradually when
Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev; uk, links= no, Леонід Ілліч Брежнєв, . (19 December 1906– 10 November 1982) was a Soviet Union, Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Gener ...
took power in the Soviet Union and introduced a conservative, more repressive course on cultural questions. The film, alongside eleven other cinematic works that were deemed politically damaging, was banned by the Central Committee of the SED at its XI Plenum in December 1965. It was only made legal again in 1990. The banned films were known as "cellar films" or "rabbit films" - the second sobriquet having been derived from the film's title.
At 1990, shortly before the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, the picture was released for public screening, and presented in the Berlin and Locarno film festivals. In 1995 it was elected as one of the 100 most important German films by a group of historians and critics.
Daniela Berghahn noted that ''The Rabbit Is Me'' was unprecedented in its portrayal of judicial corruption, sexual themes and criticism of the East German establishment.
References
Bibliography
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External links
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original 1965 posteron ostfilm.de.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rabbit Is Me
1965 films
East German films
1960s German-language films
Films set in Berlin
Films directed by Kurt Maetzig
1965 drama films
German black-and-white films
Films based on German novels