Fatherland centres on the relationship between the Nobel Prize-winning writer Thomas Mann (Hanns Zischler) and his daughter Erika (Sandra Hüller) - actress, writer and rally driver. In the summer of 1949, at the height of the Cold War, father and daughter embark on a challenging and emotional road trip in a black Buick taking them across a Germany in ruins - from US dominated Frankfurt to Soviet controlled Weimar. Returning home after sixteen years of exile in the US, Thomas Mann has to face not only a divided fatherland, but also a deep fracture within his own family.
With Fatherland, Pawlikowski picks up where he left off with his award-winning Ida and Cold War, exploring – in his elliptic, distilled style - the themes of identity, family, love and guilt amid the turmoil and confusion of post-war Europe.
The Garden Cinema View:
Fatherland is an impossibly poised examination of the psychological legacy of World War II on the German psyche. Following literary titan Thomas Mann from West Germany to the communist East, Paweł Pawlikowski raises fascinating questions about complicity, guilt, and the role of an artist. Should great writers be forgiven for being self-absorbed, or feel obliged to be activists?
At the centre of the film is a very realistically drawn relationship between Thomas and his daughter Erika, depicted in all its complexity. The craft is astonishing, from Łukasz Żal’s cinematography to Sandra Hüller’s performance, yet restrained and quiet, making the film all the more impactful.
In an era of unnecessarily long films, here is a lean one that leaves you wanting to linger a little longer over the big philosophical questions it raises.
