The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum)
Directed by Volker Schlondorff and Margarethe von Trotta
Written by Volker Schlondorff and Margarethe von Trotta based on a novel by Heinrich Boll
1975/West Germany
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Criterion Channel
Concluding text: “Characters and events are fictitious. Description of certain journalistic practices is neither intentional nor accidental, but unavoidable.”
This story of the impact of tabloid journalism on an innocent woman made me just as angry as it certainly was intended to do.
Katharina Blum (Angela Winkler) is a respectable maid whose strait-laced ways have caused her friends to call her “the nun”. It is carnival season and friends invite her to a party. There she makes an instant connection with Ludwig Gotten (Jurgen Prochnow) and invites him home for the night. Unbeknownst to her he is a suspected terrorist and fugitive from justice. Katharina has fallen in love.
In the morning, when the police burst into her apartment Ludwig is nowhere to be found. After ransacking her apartment, she is taken in to undergo a brutal interrogation. The police eventually release her hoping that following her will lead them to Ludwig.
Simultaneously and with the cooperation of the police, a tabloid rag called “The Paper” drags her name through the mud. They dredge up and sensationalize every incident from her past, making things up when the truth proves too boring. Katharina begins getting disgusting obscene mail and phone calls.
Katharina does have true friends in her boss and her aunt who try to help but are unsuccessful. The humiliation drives poor Katharina to the brink.
I was infuriated within ten minutes of the start of this movie and continued to be so through the ironic climax. The story is gripping and moves along at a good pace. Does freedom of the press justify the media tactics used to destroy a life? If you are prepared for a couple of hours of injustice, I can recommend.
