Multimedia Collection

The Legend of Rita
(Die Stille nach dem Schuss)

DVD
101 min
2000
PN1997 .S685 2001 DVD

From Volker Schlöndorff, the acclaimed director of THE TIN DRUM, THE LOST HONOR OF KATHARINA BLUM, and CIRCLE OF DECEIT, comes THE LEGEND OF RITA, a striking political thriller set in the later years of the Cold War. Anchored by a stunning lead performances by newcomer Bibiana Beglau, in the title role, the film recounts the struggles of a young West German woman as she flees from the consequences of her radical past.

Rita starts her journey as a member of a bank-robbing, terrorist group, loosely based on the real Baader-Meinhof gang, who sparred with the West German police throughout the seventies. After a series of complications, these anti-capitalist revolutionaries are forced to disband, but Rita decides to take refuge in East Germany under a false identity - the "legend" of the title. As "Susanne Schmidt," a worker at a fabric dyeing plant, this former socialist activist begins to encounter some of the drab and discontented reality of a Communist state. With remarkable dexterity, THE LEGEND OF RITA deftly captures the conflicts at the heart of a socialist system, even as Rita becomes personally involved with an alcoholic factory worker (Nadja Uhl) and then a young physics student (Alexander Beyer). As the years pass and Rita is forced into other identities, the film becomes a vivid portrait of her growing sense of alienation, although her devotion to the distant ideal of socialism never changes.

Cast: Bibiana Beglau, Martin Wuttke, Nadja Uhl. Director Volker Schlöndorff.

In German with English subtitles.

Distributed by Kino Video.

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