Split personality

>> Germany's politically confused identity is brought to life in The Legends of Rita

by MATTHEW HAYS

Director Volker Schloendorff and screenwriter Wolfgang Kohlhaase have crafted a taut political thriller with The Legends of Rita. In interviews, the two have stated that they're not sure the storyline could be mapped out over the political history of any other country but Germany. And they're undoubtedly right.

The film's namesake is Rita Vogt, an idealist drawn into terrorist politics in West Germany in the '70s. Intoxicated with their anti-capitalist philosophy and a lusty affair with one of the hotter terrorists, Rita robs banks while screaming slogans about "liberating the money." Things go awry when, during a carefully orchestrated operation to free one of their imprisoned mates, a guard is killed. Rita and friends are now fugitives worthy of top billing on the nightly news--and as a result, must seek refuge somewhere, in a twist rich with irony.

Bucking the trend westward across the Berlin Wall, the gang seek asylum in East Germany, hoping to maintain their freedom while living the socialist life. Rita seeks a Third-World nation as final destination, but the Stasi (East German secret police) have something else in mind. Rita is given various "legends," new identities that allow her to hide out successfully in various new personae. Life as a factory worker ends when her cover is blown; she soon moves on, finding some happiness in her next legend, but her cover is blown once more and she's forced into another transition.

The Legends of Rita works as a compelling character study, in which our heroine's ideological assumptions are tested and ultimately evolve as the story progresses. And the film's success can be attributed in large part to the performance of Bibiana Beglau, who manages a broad range of nuance as Rita. Not only is she forced to take on new lives as she evades capture, all of her political convictions are tested when the Berlin Wall falls and the Stasi are suddenly working with West German police. It becomes unclear who Rita can trust, and while some of her cohorts have taken their chances and fled back to the West, she isn't so sure that she's done the right thing by remaining in the East.

Rita's disillusionment with the East is summed up beautifully in a scene with her fellow factory workers, soon after the Wall has crumbled and it seems that the socialist experiment of the East has failed. Rita's coworkers are decidedly (and understandably) cynical about their collapsed government; Rita scolds them for their attitude, saying they were part of a beautiful and valiant attempt at something better. The system may have failed, but the dream was well intentioned. They roll their eyes and move away from her as she lectures.

Though Kohlhaase did extensive research on German terrorism, including interviews with a number of prisoners, Rita herself is a fictional character, a composite reflection of various fugitives. Kohlhaase and Schloendorff have effectively set her up as symbolic of contemporary Germany itself, rife with ideological confusion and identity crisis. It's a telling character study, shrewdly drawn and highly complex--a welcome shift coming from a national cinema increasingly burdened with light, frivolous and farcical comedies.

The Legends of Rita opens Friday, March 16 at Cinéma du Parc