Themes: Religious Zealotry, Crisis of Conscience, Redemption
Main Cast: John Malkovich, Marianne Sägebrecht, Volker Spengler, Dieter Laser
Release Year: 1996
Country: UK/FR/DE
Run Time: 117 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
Based on a novel by French author Michel Tournier, this drama chronicles the redemption of Abel, a French POW responsible for kidnapping dozens of young boys for recruitment by the Nazi SS during WW II. The film opens with black-and-white shots of Abel's childhood in Paris. The year is 1925 and already he has problems getting along with teachers and students. Then he is befriended by the portly young Nestor. Abel loses his only friend during a terrible fire that demolishes the school and leaves him convinced that he has been blessed by fate to survive. Fourteen years quickly pass; the story turns to color, and the now hulking Abel is seen working in a Paris garage. He also spends time with his girlfriend Rachel. It is she who playfully dubs him "ogre" because he is rather rough in bed. Abel has always loved children. He was good friends with little Martine, until she falsely accuses him of rape and he is sent to prison. During the war, he is freed by the German invaders who involve him with the upper echelons of the SS and give him a job as a hunting assistant on Goering's Bavarian estate. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Gottfried John - Chief Forester; Armin Mueller-Stahl - Count of Kaltenborn; Agnes Soral - Rachel; Daniel Smith; Heino Ferch - Raufelsen; Caspar Salmon
Credit
Didier Naert - Art Director, Chris Auty - Associate Producer, Pierre Couveinhes - Associate Producer, Karin Beewen - Casting, Peter Przygodda - Consultant/advisor, Anna Sheppard - Costume Designer, Marek Brodski - First Assistant Director, Marcel Just - First Assistant Director, Volker Schlöndorff - Director, Nicolas Gaster - Editor, Claude Berri - Executive Producer, Lew Rywin - Executive Producer, Jeremy Thomas - Executive Producer, Andreas Grosch - Executive Producer, Michael Nyman - Composer (Music Score), Ezio Frigerio - Production Designer, Bruno de Keyzer - Cinematographer, Ingrid Windisch - Producer, Karl Laabs - Sound/Sound Designer, Jean-Claude Carrière - Screenwriter, Volker Schlöndorff - Screenwriter, Michel Tournier - Book Author
