Art House
The Legend of Rita
Unrated
2000, Kino
German actress Bibiana Beglau's powerful lead performance is the best thing about Volker Schlöndorff's tense political thriller. Beglau plays Rita Vogt, a young West German woman trying to escape from her terrorist past by taking refuge in East Germany with a false identity. Unrequited friendship and love is the price Rita pays for her past actions. As years pass, Rita finds herself with a new name, a new life and a new legend. Through it all, her idealistic belief in socialism never wavers.
Rita and her gang of shaggy-haired bank robbers are based on the Red Army Faction, the terrorist group formed by Andreas Baader and journalist Ulrike Meinhof, the authors of robberies, bombings and arson throughout 1970s West Germany.
On one level, The Legend of Rita is a thriller about a female terrorist trying to hide in East Germany. At the same time, it's also a humanistic tale about everyday life in East Germany and one woman's struggle to retain her political beliefs.
Late in the film, Rita reveals that she initially joined the terrorist group out of love for one of its members. Suddenly, she no longer seems dangerous or harsh. Rita's steadfast belief in the romance of revolution is what makes her so complex and interesting as a character.
As Rita, Beglau's appearance changes throughout the film. Her dark curls and somber stare are replaced with frizzy hair and fake glasses. In East Germany, Rita finds new purpose in life. Beglau's dynamic presence and heartfelt compassion makes Rita's story believable and compelling.
The Legend of Rita is one of the best signs of life from New German Cinema, a film movement that was once the most vibrant in Europe. For Schlöndorff, The Legend of Rita marks his return home after a number of unsuccessful American films (1990's The Handmaid's Tale and 1998's Palmetto).
The subject of left-wing students who pursued violence to create social change is familiar to Schlöndorff's The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975), co-directed with his then wife Margarethe von Trotta, a film about a woman who becomes involved with a man wanted by the police.
Schlöndorff, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Alexander Kluge and Edgar Reitz, directed a segment of Germany in Autumn (1978), a collection of short films that directly addressed the terrorists' battles with the West German government. Schlöndorff's segment was about the government's cancellation of a TV adaptation of Sophocles' Antigone because its themes of violence and resistance were too inflammatory. The theme behind Germany in Autumn can be found in the text that opens the film: "Once atrocity has reached a certain point, it does not matter who committed it. It should just stop." This message of peace also applies to The Legend of Rita.
Schlöndorff's mobile camera keeps The Legend of Rita fast-paced and energetic. Its images by cinematographer Andreas Hoefer are vibrant and lush. Writer Wolfgang Kohlhaase keeps the storytelling suspenseful. A few moments of romantic melodrama are the only times when the film stumbles. By The Legend of Rita's climax, it's clear that Rita's romantic sense of socialism has dissolved into cynical bureaucracy.
The Legend of Rita is as substantial as any of Schlöndorff's earlier films, including The Tin Drum (1979). Returning to the subject of German history, it's not surprising that The Legend of Rita turns out to be Schlöndorff's best film in years. (Grade: A)
And the rest:
The Color of Friendship (Disney), a smart and engaging story about racial tolerance, is one of those rare family films that really do appeal to the entire family. Paris Qualles' heartfelt script tells the story of an African-American congressman whose family is surprised when their African exchange student turns out to be a white South African girl. Luckily, the film keeps the racial tolerance lessons believable and cliché-free.
