2 or 3 Things I Know About Him
Y
April 21, 2005
BERLIN -- Americans grow up being told they are citizens of the greatest country in the world. Germans grow up being taught that their Nazi parents and grandparents were the worst criminals in the world. One of the biggest questions of life in Germany today is: How do you face your past and still retain any sense of self-esteem?
That is the question at the core of the documentary "2 or 3 Things I Know About Him" (2 oder 3 Dinge, die ich von ihm weiss), a kind of anatomy of the post-Holocaust German soul. Although it is dramatically weak in spots, strong material and a post-Nazi family in denial should give this docu moderate success at festivals, in limited theatrical release and on DVD.
Documentary filmmaker Malte Ludin grew up knowing his father was Hanns Ludin, the Nazi ambassador to Slovakia during the Third Reich who was executed in 1947 for war crimes, but he never was sure what that really meant. The youngest son (with five brothers and sisters), Malte never knew his father and was taught while growing up that Hanns Ludin had been innocent. Although the father had served Hitler in what was then Slovakia, so went the official family legend, he had not known the Jews he deported were sent to the gas chambers.
It was a comforting legend for the children, and it went well with the memories that the older children had of him as a warm, generous, kind father. However, when Malte reads the actual documents that his father has signed, he becomes convinced that his father was truly guilty and confronts his living brothers and sisters with his findings. The oldest sister vehemently refuses to admit that her father knew anything, while the others crumble under the evidence.
Watching them struggle with their love of their father on the one hand and their moral horror on the other forms the dramatic core of the movie. But just as interesting is how they desperately grasp at any little detail that could at least give Hanns Ludin the benefit of the doubt. Thus it becomes very important that he never explicitly wrote "Send the Jews to their deaths." The question of his guilt ends up hinging on phrases like "100% solution to the Jewish question." Although it is obvious to everyone else what Ludin meant by that, to Malte's oldest sister, the phrase remains unclear enough to be disqualified as evidence.
As a documentary, "2 or 3 Things" ultimately falls short of expectations. Malte Ludin gives a lot of screen time to his oldest sister in denial -- she is certainly the most interesting character here -- but fails to get to the heart of the reactions of the younger generation and, indeed, of his own. Still, the film is fascinating as a document of how Germans wrestle with their past and, more universally, about the human need to think well of those we love.
2 OR 3 THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HIM
A Svarc Film production
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Malte Ludin
Producer: Iva Svarcova
Director of photography: Franz Lustig
Music: Werner Pirchner, Hakim Ludin, Jaroslav Nahovica
Co-producers: Esther Shapira (HR), Vera Meyer-Matheis (SR), Gudrun Hanke-El Ghomry (SWR), Ulle Schroder (arte)
Editors: Malte Ludin, Iva Svarcova
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 85 minutes
That is the question at the core of the documentary "2 or 3 Things I Know About Him" (2 oder 3 Dinge, die ich von ihm weiss), a kind of anatomy of the post-Holocaust German soul. Although it is dramatically weak in spots, strong material and a post-Nazi family in denial should give this docu moderate success at festivals, in limited theatrical release and on DVD.
Documentary filmmaker Malte Ludin grew up knowing his father was Hanns Ludin, the Nazi ambassador to Slovakia during the Third Reich who was executed in 1947 for war crimes, but he never was sure what that really meant. The youngest son (with five brothers and sisters), Malte never knew his father and was taught while growing up that Hanns Ludin had been innocent. Although the father had served Hitler in what was then Slovakia, so went the official family legend, he had not known the Jews he deported were sent to the gas chambers.
It was a comforting legend for the children, and it went well with the memories that the older children had of him as a warm, generous, kind father. However, when Malte reads the actual documents that his father has signed, he becomes convinced that his father was truly guilty and confronts his living brothers and sisters with his findings. The oldest sister vehemently refuses to admit that her father knew anything, while the others crumble under the evidence.
Watching them struggle with their love of their father on the one hand and their moral horror on the other forms the dramatic core of the movie. But just as interesting is how they desperately grasp at any little detail that could at least give Hanns Ludin the benefit of the doubt. Thus it becomes very important that he never explicitly wrote "Send the Jews to their deaths." The question of his guilt ends up hinging on phrases like "100% solution to the Jewish question." Although it is obvious to everyone else what Ludin meant by that, to Malte's oldest sister, the phrase remains unclear enough to be disqualified as evidence.
As a documentary, "2 or 3 Things" ultimately falls short of expectations. Malte Ludin gives a lot of screen time to his oldest sister in denial -- she is certainly the most interesting character here -- but fails to get to the heart of the reactions of the younger generation and, indeed, of his own. Still, the film is fascinating as a document of how Germans wrestle with their past and, more universally, about the human need to think well of those we love.
2 OR 3 THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HIM
A Svarc Film production
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Malte Ludin
Producer: Iva Svarcova
Director of photography: Franz Lustig
Music: Werner Pirchner, Hakim Ludin, Jaroslav Nahovica
Co-producers: Esther Shapira (HR), Vera Meyer-Matheis (SR), Gudrun Hanke-El Ghomry (SWR), Ulle Schroder (arte)
Editors: Malte Ludin, Iva Svarcova
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 85 minutes
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