Kameradschaft (which translates to "comradeship"), the third sound film from silent filmmaker legend G.W. Pabst, is inspired by a real-life 1906 mining disaster in a French mine near the border with Belgium, where a team of German rescue workers came to help. Pabst moves the setting to the French-German border, circa 1931, where a vast coal mine runs through both countries (bars blocking the border crossing exist hundreds of feet underground). A decade-plus after WWI, the Great Depression has made workers desperate to find jobs, which only exacerbates lingering resentments between the countries. But when a fire on the French side causes an explosion that traps workers, the Germans pull together a crew and cross the border with their modern equipment to join in the rescue. Worker solidarity trumps national division, and while the characters can't always communicate with each other (the Germans speak German, and the French speak French), they are able to make themselves understood in this crisis situation. Kameradschaft is a dramatic, fast-moving story with impressive mine scenes (all created in the studio) and striking special effects, and Pabst deftly marshals a compelling soundtrack featuring the effective use of silence and the pings of pipes struck by trapped miners. Extras include interviews with film historians Hermann Barth and Jan-Christopher Horak, and an archival interview with editor Jean Oser. Highly recommended. (S. Axmaker)
Kameradschaft
Criterion, 88 min., in French & German w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $29.95, Blu-ray: $39.95 Volume 33, Issue 2
Kameradschaft
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