- Opfergang
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Opfergang (English: The Great Sacrifice or Rite of Sacrifice) is a 1944 German film directed by Veit Harlan.[1] It is based on Rudolf G. Binding's work of the same title, with alterations for propaganda purposes.[2]
Contents
Synopsis
Albrecht Froben, though married to Oktavia, falls in love with his neighbor, Äls Flodéen. She is infected in an outbreak of typhoid. When Albrecht goes to briing her daughter to safety and is trapped by quarantine, Octavia dresses up as him and visits every day to keep her spirits up. Albrecht returns. Äls informs him of what his wife had done and dies. Albrecht is reconciled with his wife.
Motifs
Nazism makes no overt appearance in the film, which appears a work of entertainment, but it includes themes frequently in Nazi propaganda.[3]
Sacrifice and death are constant motifs in the movie -- Äls even recounts how she had to put down her ill dog -- and Albrecht's return to his wife is a reflection of a realization of the tragic side of life.[4]
Although Äls is a danger to the marriage, she is not presented as wholly negative, owing to her love of nature.[5] She dies in a reversal of the source material, where the husband dies.[6] This reflected a need to avoid temptation to adultery, when many families were separated, and Joseph Goebbels himself insisted that it must be the woman rather than the man who paid.[6] Nevertheless, her death is surrounded by a heavenly chorus and transcendence.[7]
Distribution
Owing to the shortage of raw film, and its full color spectacular nature, it received only very limited release.[8]
References
- ^ "New York Times: Opfergang (1944)". NY Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/36555/Opfergang/credits. Retrieved 2011-07-17.
- ^ Richard Grunberger, The 12-Year Reich, p 382, ISBN 03-076435-1
- ^ Robert Edwin Hertzstein, The War That Hitler Won p318 ISBN 399-11845-4
- ^ Robert Edwin Hertzstein, The War That Hitler Won p319 ISBN 399-11845-4
- ^ Cinzia Romani, Tainted Goddesses: Female Film Stars of the Third Reich p87 ISBN 0-9627613-1-1
- ^ a b Cinzia Romani, Tainted Goddesses: Female Film Stars of the Third Reich p20 ISBN 0-9627613-1-1
- ^ Robert Edwin Hertzstein, The War That Hitler Won p320 ISBN 399-11845-4
- ^ Robert Edwin Hertzstein, The War That Hitler Won p272 ISBN 399-11845-4
External links
Categories:- 1944 films
- Films of the Third Reich
- German-language films
- Films directed by Veit Harlan
- 1940s drama film stubs
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