The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum

Volker Schlöndorff and Margarethe von Trotta's 1975 adaptation of Heinrich Böll's novel, set in a West Germany terrified by the crimes of the Marxist Baader-Meinhof gang, may be even more thematically relevant to contemporary audiences, with its depiction of the public vilification of a naïve young woman who enjoyed a brief tryst with a suspected terrorist (the young Jürgen Prochnow, with a billowing head of hair). Katharina Blum (Angela Winkler) suffers harsh interrogation from the authorities, particularly by gruff Inspector Beizmenne (Mario Adorf), after they storm her apartment the morning after (though the terrorist is gone)--but her treatment at the hands of the yellow press, represented by unprincipled reporter Werner Toetges (Dieter Laser), is even worse. Although mounting an effective indictment against unethical journalistic practices, the film's spotlight on the inclination to sacrifice basic civil rights in the fight against terrorism carries the greater resonance in the present international climate. Unfortunately, the power of the subject matter is diminished somewhat by the filmmakers' clinical, detached style, and Winkler's studied performance, which keep the viewer at an emotional distance (as does the '70s party music, which really feels dated, although the modernistic background score by Hans Werner Henze remains cutting-edge). Once again, Criterion serves up a superb DVD transfer, with a handful of solid extras, including interviews with the directors and the cinematographer, and excerpts from a documentary on Böll. As both historical artifact and thought-provoking drama, this is recommended. (F. Swietek)