Amoeba Music

With films that have been or are currently banned in their country of origin comes an instant intrigue in me. Apparently this film was banned for “exposing the harsh realities of East German society,” but that statement, seen on the back of the DVD cover, is a little ambiguous. While watching the film you do get a vague understanding of the politics and lack of justice in the judicial system of 1960s Germany; you begin to understand that the film's “anti-socialist” message could have come as a great threat. However, there is a lot left unexplained—a lot that you have to go and research on your own, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Somehow you don't mind being led into a haze because the film's heroine, a blacklisted 19-year old, is an astounding portrait of the system's failure. Her will to overcome the setbacks of an “opportunist” and unjust society gives you hope. It's that hope of something better and more democratic that could have been contagious, and was therefore silenced. Still, The Rabbit is Me is hailed as one of the most important New Wave films to come out of Germany.

In the film we find a 17-year old Maria (Angelika Waller) at the end of her high school education. Like all of her peers, she's exceptionally bright and a strong-willed young lady. She and her brother are orphans who live with their aunt (Ilse Voigt), and just before graduation, two officers come calling. They inform the broken family that their brother/nephew, Dieter (Wolfgang Winkler), is being charged with inciting subversive material, which could lead to a 3-year prison sentence. They try to appear at his trial but are removed on questionable grounds from the courtroom. Young Dieter loses the trial. Before being locked up he's able to see his family, and he warns his sister to be wary of two people. The prosecutor and the judge who put him away, Paul Deister.

Determined to forge ahead during a difficult time, Maria applies for college after graduation. Since all of her girlfriends got in, she figures that her above average grades and steady growth in gymnastics will gain her entry. She is denied admission, the reason is because she has a brother who's supposedly a traitor, and thus she learns to get used to being blacklisted. She gets a job as a waitress, and by the time she's 19-years old she's had hundreds of polite or lewd comments about her figure and availability leak from the mouths of her male patrons. And though her aunt is worried about her lack of steady boyfriends, Maria enjoys being unattainable.

While in a theater, an older gentleman approaches her and gives a subtle gesture that makes her second-guess being single. She figures she'll never see him again until she runs into him at the courthouse while trying to figure out the process of appeals and pardons for her brother's sake. He introduces himself formally as Paul Deister (Alfred Muller), and she runs away, knowing that she's somewhat infatuated with the mysterious man, but she must remember that he put her brother in prison. Paul catches up to her and pursues her fiercely. She plays along, unsure if she can later use his affection to her advantage, and keeps quiet about her brother. She knows he's married and, provided she ever made her connection to the case clear, that he'd never open up about what her brother was charged with. Still, he's the perfect man for her underneath his attachment to Socialists and his marriage.

Maria hurts her back at work and is put on leave, and Paul decides to put her up in his cabin, telling the townspeople that they're cousins. In the six months that she's there, the two meet on weekends before Paul returns to his occupation and wife. But the two soon find that even in the wilderness, one can't escape duty, society, and responsibility. Their romance turns into a bitter feud, where love and tenderness become means and ends. Maria starts to understand that his vulnerability to her could be used as an advantage in terms of her brother's pardon. But little does she know that Paul intends to use her and her family as pawns in something much larger.

It's hard for me to classify the film, especially since a lot of the messages where obscured by provokingly fluid camera work and an invasive sense of direction. Not that these traits are bad, but the techniques used are so well-crafted and perfect that they're a little distracting. Is it propaganda, or is there something that I missed? Doing research clarified a lot, but I really do think that the film should be viewed prior to an understanding of German politics in the '60s. The characters Maria and Paul are two metaphorical tools in the film, but I'm having some difficulty explaining what they represent and its brilliance. I suppose you'll just have to see it for yourself. Even if you could care less about politics, see it for its outstanding black & white photography and for a vision of Germany that is truly one-of-a-kind.