Divided Heaven (aka Der geteilte Himmel/1964/First Run DVD)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: C     Film: C+

 

 

I have not been the biggest fan of the works of the late German director Konrad Wolf, one of the more prolific filmmakers during the decades of a split Germany.  I was not a big fan of I Was Nineteen (1968) and thought is final film Solo Sunny (1982, both reviewed elsewhere on this site) was better, but he was a co-director there.  For Divided Heaven (1964), he wants to infuse his tale of a woman (Renate Blume) named Rita trying to recover from a nervous breakdown with that new style.  Part of the strategy might be to express the liberating of a woman, if possible in this grim situation.

 

She goes back to her childhood hometown hoping to piece herself back together and find some closure in the process.  Her and her past lover Manfred (Eberhard Esche) were separated when Germany was divide and it split more than just the land or their relationship.  The film wants to tell the story in the style of Truffaut’s New Wave films, especially The 400 Blows, but despite its braveness in questioning The Berlin Wall itself and showing its damaging effects; the film cannot find its own voice though it is never comical and takes its subject very seriously.

 

It is not from lack of ambition and the look is fine, but it looks like a conventional drama in scope when it suddenly drops out of the New Wave imitation, which can be distracting and pulls it away from the popular novel source and any political points.  Why it could not stay with the New Wave style all the way is a fair question.  Still, this is considered a key German film and I could be missing some points, but as it stands, I had a mixed response and it did not stay with me.  Too bad a synthesized style was not attained.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 black and white image was filmed in the TotalVision process and does look good, down to the framing by Director of Photography Werner Bergmann, who often worked with Wolf.  Too bad the Video Black is so weak here, hurting a transfer that looks like it comes from a fine print.  Detail is also an issue throughout, but I bet this would look great on Blu-ray.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono sound is better, though it shows its age, but it is on the clean side, but likely would sound better in a lossless codec if given the chance.  The only extras are text bios and filmographies.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo