Kuhle Wampe

This semi-documentary from 1932, with the idea conceived and the script written by none other than Bertold Brecht, is the only communist film made in Weimar Germany and was immediately banned on grounds of depicting the legal system and the religion of the country in a negative light although following a recut version, the ban was lifted… only for the film to be banned completely by the Nazis one year later! Barely seen for many years, this cinematic rarity tells the struggle of a Berlin family during times of increasing unemployment and is available in a brand-new 2K restoration on HD Blu-ray, DVD and Amazon Prime.

Berlin at the start of the 1930’s: montage clips of newspaper articles inform us about the rapidly rising numbers of unemployed citizens and their daily struggle to find any kind of work. We are then introduced to the Bönike family and their own plight and desperation due to unpaid back rent. While Mother Bönike (Lili Schoenborn-Anspach) tries to maintain a positive mood by serving up a humble meal, Father Bönike (Max Sablotzki), after having failed yet again to secure a job, starts an argument with his son Kurt (Adolf Fischer) and accuses him of being too picky when it comes to finding work and above all, rude and arrogant in his manners. Apparently, Kurt was also rude to the landlord – something which Father Bönike is particularly annoyed about seeing how the family owes almost six months rent at this stage. In contrast, daughter Annie (Hertha Thiele) matter of factly remarks that these days, being polite doesn’t get you anywhere either. She then gets up and applies some lipstick before leaving the apartment while father continues to scold his son… who sits at the table listening to his old man in a stoical manner without any attempt of defending himself. After father leaves the apartment to meet some friends in a nearby beer cellar and moans about the general state of affairs, and mother also leaves the apartment for some shopping, Kurt gets up, takes off his watch which he places on a little table, puts some flowerpots (displayed on the window sill) aside and jumps to his death. The neighbours find out about the tragedy before the individual family members do – to add insult to injury the landlord, fed up with the Bönikes falling ever more behind with their rent, sees no other option than to issue an eviction notice.

Luckily, Annie’s boyfriend Fritz (Ernst Busch), who also struggles to find steady employment, comes to the rescue by offering the Bönike Family temporary shelter at ‘Kuhle Wampe’ – a tent camp on the Müggelsee (a lake by the Eastern suburbs of Berlin) which houses a colony of dispossessed and unemployed people. Annie is the only member of her family who actually has work, albeit a humdrum factory job. Nonetheless it provides some income for the family but also more arguments with her ungrateful father who is constantly on her back for going out in the evening, especially because he’s worried she might fall pregnant and thus makes no qualms about the fact that should this happen, he won’t hesitate to beat his daughter to a pulp. Nice dad, that Herr Bönike! Of course, Annie falls pregnant though luckily her dad does not beat her to pulp, instead a little time later, a wedding is hastily arranged despite Fritz’s initial hesitation and his comments he doesn’t wish to throw his entire future away because of a pregnant girl. In the end, decency wins over and Fritz, the Bönikes and all sorts of wedding guests get intoxicated in a special tent. It is then that Annie notices Fritz is the only one who isn’t cheerful and he replies he’s not happy because he feels that Annie’s bully of father pressurized him into marrying her. In response, Annie packs her belongings and walks out on her new groom during the wedding night, taking up residence in a flat inhabited by one of her work colleagues. It’s only during a ‘communist workers’ sporting event that she bumps into Fritz again, who by now has joined the ranks of the millions of unemployed. After reuniting, the two return home together by train. During the journey (this sequence btw was directed by Brecht himself) Annie, Fritz plus likeminded workers and comrades get involved in a fierce argument with passengers from the middle-class and upper classes – debating the worldwide financial crisis and the fact that recently, Brazil burnt tons and tons of coffee beans and what a waste! One of the workers suggests growing a coffee plantation if Berlin (well, the climate wouldn’t be right…). The fight goes on until another worker remarks that the rich will never change the world for the better, which prompts a wealthy gentleman replying that if not the rich, then who else can change the world? In the final scene, both Annie and her friend Gerda (Martha Wolter) coolly remark: ”Those who don’t like it!” before the tune to ‘Das Solidaritätslied’ (‘The Solidarity Song’) kicks in – the hymn so to speak of the working classes, with lyrics penned by Brecht and the tune composed by Hanns Eisler.

The film’s unique approach, that is to say combining real-life footage with cinematic action, works extremely well in demonstrating the desperate situation of so many Berliners following the economic collapse after the First World War (with another, even more devastating war looming just around the corner). Responsible for this arresting camera work is cinematographer Günther Krampf who had already worked on masterpieces from the German Expressionist period, such as ‘Nosferatu ‘(1922), ‘The Hands of Orlac’ (1924) and ‘The Student of Prague’ (1926). One year after ‘Kuhle Wampe’ he stood behind the camera for the Boris Karloff chiller ‘The Ghoul’.
While Hertha Thiele is probably the best-known face among the cast (having previously appeared as the tragic Manuela in the romantic lesbian drama ‘Girls in Uniform’), other actors were either popular at the time or simply were Extras whose ravaged faces tell more than epic dialogue. In the case of Martha Wolter (who plays ‘Gerta’), she was a member of the ‘Red Orchestra’ and a resistance fighter during the brutal Nazi regime. After the war, she became a member of the Communist Party of (East) Germany.
The scene during the wedding is an excellent example when it comes to demonstrating the differences between the ‘unsophisticated and uncouth Proletariat’ (working classes) with their poor table manners and complete absence of any social graces, while in another scene old Father Bönike reads a newspaper article about the infamous spy Mata Hari exposing her breasts during one of her exotic dances, with mother Börlike listening on whilst mending clothes, not really understanding anything about Hari’s world.

KUHLE WAMPE or WHO OWNS THE WORLD? offers the following Bonus Material:
Commentary by film scholar Adrian Martin (1922); Intro and Q&A (1999); ‘Bread’ – 1934, 12min) – a short political film made in protest against social inequality; ‘Beyond this Open Road’ (1934, 11min) – a modernist short with poetic images of workers leisure time; ‘Housing Problems’ (1935, 16min) – a powerful docu about slum housing in Stepney; ‘Easter Valley’ (1937, 17min) – a docu about a Welsh co-operative scheme run by unemployed miners; illustrated booklet (first pressing only).