''Spider's Web'' () is a 1989 West German film directed by

Bernhard Wicki Bernhard Wicki (28 October 1919 – 5 January 2000) was an Austrian actor and film director. Life and career Wicki studied in the city of Breslau such topics as art history, history and German literature. In 1938, he transferred to the ...

. It is based on the 1923 novel by

Joseph Roth Moses Joseph Roth (2 September 1894 – 27 May 1939) was an Austrian journalist and novelist, best known for his family saga ''Radetzky March'' (1932), about the decline and fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, his novel of Jewish life '' Job'' ...

. It was chosen as West Germany's official submission to the

62nd Academy Awards The 62nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 1989 and took place on March 26, 1990, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 ...

for

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress# ...

, but did not manage to receive a nomination. The film was the last submission by West Germany, due to

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

in 1990, Germany competed at the

63rd Academy Awards The 63rd Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 25, 1991, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p.m. PST / 9:00 p.m. EST. During the ce ...

as a single country. The film was also entered into the

1989 Cannes Film Festival The 42nd Cannes Film Festival was held from 11 to 23 May 1989. The Palme d'Or went to '' Sex, Lies, and Videotape'' by Steven Soderbergh. The festival opened with '' New York Stories'', anthology film directed by Woody Allen, Francis Ford Copp ...

Plot

The film centers on young right-wing Leutnant (lieutenant) Theodor Lohse (

Ulrich Mühe Friedrich Hans Ulrich Mühe (; 20 June 1953 – 22 July 2007) was a German film, television and theatre actor. He played the role of Hauptmann (Captain) Gerd Wiesler in the Oscar-winning film '' Das Leben der Anderen'' (''The Lives of Others'', 20 ...

) who suffers personal and national humiliation during the downfall of the German Empire and the subsequent

German Revolution German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

of 1918 as the aftermath of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, from whence on he pledges revenge on all those he blames for the new times: Democrats, socialists, and Jews. Thus, he becomes increasingly active in the right-wing underground of the early

Weimar Republic The German Reich, commonly referred to as the Weimar Republic,, was a historical period of Germany from 9 November 1918 to 23 March 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is also r ...

, joining an organization called "S II" (probably based on real-life ''

Organisation Consul Organisation Consul (O.C.) was an ultra-nationalist and anti-Semitic terrorist organization that operated in the Weimar Republic from 1920 to 1922. It was formed by members of the disbanded Freikorps group Marine Brigade Ehrhardt and was respons ...

'' that was responsible for a number of political and anti-Semitic assassinations) where his immediate superior is Baron von Rastchuk (

Armin Mueller-Stahl Armin Mueller-Stahl (born 17 December 1930) is a retired German film actor, painter and author, who also appeared in numerous English-language films since the 1980s. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role i ...

). Baron von Rastchuk brings Lohse in contact with

Prince Heinrich A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

in order to get Lohse employed, a favor for which the homosexual Prince demands one-time bodily obligingness from Lohse. In spite of his apparent shock and disgust, Lohse yields to the Prince out of his opportunism and willingness to please his superiors. Lohse becomes a full-time spy for the organization, and with unprecedented, relentless opportunism and unscrupulousness he spies in on Communist plots, partakes in the organization's plans to undermine the new German democracy, and disposes of his own right-wing colleagues when he sees fit, all of which to serve his own plans of rising to the top within right-wing circles. During these activities he comes in contact with Benjamin Lenz (

Klaus Maria Brandauer Klaus Maria Brandauer (; born Klaus Georg Steng; 22 June 1943) is an Austrian actor and director. He is also a professor at the Max Reinhardt Seminar. Brandauer is known internationally for his roles in '' The Russia House'' (1990), ''Mephisto ...

), a Jewish man dealing in information on all kinds of criminal and underground political proceedings who will always sell at the highest price, be it paid by left or right-wing conspirators or the police. In spite of Lohse's hatred of Jews, he finds Lenz's services useful, but soon finds himself at his mercy as Lenz through their collaboration finds out more and more about Lohse's schemes and spy activities. When Lenz learns that Lohse ordered a pogrom of the local Jewish ghetto, he confronts the rather short and slim-built Lohse in private, beating him close to senselessness and almost forces Lohse to commit suicide by jumping out of a window, until he realizes that killing Lohse would not make him any better than the anti-Semite that had ordered the violence in the ghetto. Lohse then has his henchmen murder Lenz, also because he knew too much, by pushing him in front of an approaching train. The film ends in late 1923 with Lohse leaving a festivity of conservatives and monarchists, declaring that restoring the monarchy has by now become "old hat", and with glowing eyes he mentions a "new man" preparing a putsch in Munich to count on - a man named

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

Cast

- Theodor Lohse *

- Benjamin Lenz *

- Baron von Rastchuk * Andrea Jonasson - Rahel Efrussi * Corinna Kirchhoff - Else von Schlieffen * Elisabeth Endriss - Anna * Ullrich Haupt - Baron von Köckwitz * Agnes Fink - Mutter Lohse * András Fricsay Kali Son - Klitsche * Ernst Stötzner - Günter * Peter Roggisch -

* Rolf Henniger - Aaron Efrussi * Hans Korte - Geheimrat Hugenberg *

Kyra Mladeck Kyra may refer to: Places * Kyra, Cyprus, a village * Kyra, Russia, a rural locality (''selo'') in Zabaykalsky Krai * Kyra River, a river in Kyra, Russia Given name * Kyra (given name) * Kyra (''Charmed''), a fictional character in the TV s ...

- Frau von Köckwitz *

Hark Bohm Hark Bohm (; born 18 May 1939) is a German actor, screenwriter, film director, playwright and former professor for cinema studies. He was born in Hamburg-Othmarschen and grew up on the island Amrum. His younger brother was the actor Marquard Boh ...

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 192 ...

-artist

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1989 films 1989 drama films German drama films West German films 1980s German-language films Films based on works by Joseph Roth Films directed by Bernhard Wicki Films set in Berlin Cultural depictions of Adolf Hitler Films set in 1918 Films set in 1919 Films set in the 1920s 1980s German films

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links