Film Archive

Legends of Rita, The (Stille nach dem Schuss, Die)

West Germany in the 1970s. The time is marked by a spirit of anarchy and rebellion. Rita Vogt is seduced into the terrorist movement through her sense of justice and her love for Andi. A few years later, realizing that the movement is falling apart, she goes underground, hiding out in East Germany. With the help of the Stasi Secret Service Agent, Erwin Hull, she assumes a new identity amidst the everyday world of the working class where she is befriended by a young co-worker, Tatjana.

As much as Rita wants to fit into her surroundings, Tatjana yearns to get out, to escape to the West. Nonetheless, they form a deep friendship, which is brought to an abrupt end when a report on West German television blows Rita's cover. Rita must disappear again, but this time a new name and a new city bring her luck. While on vacation, Rita meets Jochen, a university student working as a lifeguard. When he is posted to Moscow, he asks her to come with him, to be his wife and raise a family. But in the end Rita's past catches up with her - 1989 brings the fall of the Berlin Wall. East Germany is gone, and with it, her new life.

Volker Schloendorff was born in Wiesbaden in 1939. He made his debut as a film director in 1965 with Young Toerless which won the German Film Award and the Max Ophuels Award in 1966. A selection of his films includes: Baal (1970), The Sudden Wealth of the Poor People of Kombach (1971), The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975, in co-direction with Margarethe von Trotta), Fangschuss (1976), Germany in Autumn (1976, together with Stefan Aust, Alexander Kluge, et al), Circle of Deceit (1981), Swann in Love (1983), Death of a Salesman (1985), A Gathering of Old Men (1987), The Handmaid's Tale (1990), Voyager (1990), The Ogre (1996), Palmetto (1998), The Legends of Rita (1999), Ein Produzent hat Seele oder er hat keine (documentary, 2001), Ten Minutes Older: The Cello (2002), The Ninth Day (2004), Strike (2006), and Ulzhan (2007). In 1979, his film The Tin Drum was the first film by a German director to be awarded a Golden Palm in Cannes. A year later, it was the first German film to be awarded an OSCAR for Best Foreign Language Film.
 

Genre Drama
Category Feature Film Cinema
Year of Production 1999
Director Volker Schloendorff
Screenplay Wolfgang Kohlhaase
Director of Photography Andreas Hoefer
Editor Peter Przygodda
Producers Arthur Hofer, Emmo Lempert, Friedrich-Carl Wachs
Production Company Studio Babelsberg Motion Pictures/Potsdam, in co-production with MDR/Leipzig, Mitteldeutsches Filmkontor/Leipzig
Principal Cast Bibiana Beglau, Alexander Beyer, Nadja Uhl, Martin Wuttke
Length 104 min, 2,845 m
Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85
Original Version German
Subtitled Versions English, French
Sound Technology Dolby SR
Festival Screenings Berlin 2000 (in competition), San Francisco 2000, Seattle 2000, Sydney 2000, Riga 2000, Montreal 2000, Toronto 2000, San Sebastian 2002 (Retrospective), Cairo 2003, Goa 2007, Camerimage Lodz 2009 (Retrospective)
With backing from Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung
German Distributor Arthaus Filmverleih/Munich

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