James Mottram
Based on the international bestseller by Hans Fallada (Every Man Dies Alone), Alone In Berlin – helmed by French actor turned director, Vincent Perez – shines the light on two ordinary German people who made an extraordinary impact. In 1940 Berlin, working class couple, Otto and Anna Quangel (Brendan Gleeson and Emma Thompson), receive the news that their only son has been killed on the battlefield. Already disillusioned with The Führer and The Fatherland, the loss of their son proves the tipping point, and Otto begins a campaign of civil disobedience, writing messages on postcards that urge fellow Germans to resist the Nazi regime. Anna soon partners with Otto and together they covertly distribute hundreds of postcards, left in stairwells and mailboxes across the city.
At the head of the Gestapo trying to track down the dissenters is Escherich, who faces enormous pressure to find, stop, and bring the traitors to justice. Taking on this role of the central antagonist is German-raised actor, Daniel Bruhl, who first burst onto the scene in the acclaimed 2003 drama, Good Bye Lenin!, before stepping onto the international stage with roles in The Bourne Ultimatum, Inglourious Basterds, Rush, The Fifth Estate, and Captain America: Civil War.
What first got you involved with this film?
“I was approached by Vincent Perez a few years ago. I was fascinated by the book, which is one of the best Berlin books ever written. I was very inspired by this story of this working class couple, which seemingly did something small, by leaving these postcards, but it’s actually something quite huge. Their courage was so impressive, and inspiring, and Fallada wrote it in a wonderful way. I always thought that Escherich, my character, is like an archetype character, at that time in Germany. Like so many others, he wasn’t a Nazi at all actually. He was not in the party, and not sympathising. But he was slowly broken by the regime. Intimidated, and out of sheer fear, he gives up his values and convictions. And that’s what happened to many people. That’s what I found interesting about this character. It’s a very typical character for that time. He’s like an old school inspector. Very Prussian, correct, and repulsed by the ignorance of these S.S idiots. But, again, he is slowly broken, and eventually destroyed.”
As a German actor, how do you feel about the movie being in English?
“We’ve been asked this question so many times now. I’m really surprised, because for me, it’s a bit boring to be honest, because there are different approaches. When Vincent came up with the project, being a foreigner [Swiss French], it made absolute sense to make this film on an international level. And having Brendan Gleeson and Emma Thompson, watching them, and how they play this couple, after a second, I don’t really care if they’re Irish, or English. It’s a legitimate way of doing it. And also, it’s a way to reach a wider audience. Because at the end of the day, this is what’s important – that a film travels. I wish that German was the first language in the world, but it is not. So, it doesn’t bother me at all. And I’m German, so…”
Speaking of that you became an international actor relatively quickly. Was that by chance? Or did you plan it?
“There are things that you cannot really plan, and that you cannot foresee, and that you cannot organise. It’s a combination of things, but it’s definitely also luck, in finding the right projects, and the right director, at the right time. And my dream was always to work in different places, because I grew up in a very multicultural environment, being half Spanish, and half German, and having French family. I was always attracted to moving around, and discovering new places, and new cultures.”
As well as this, you’ve just appeared in Captain America: Civil War, which is huge. Do you feel like you want to strike while the iron’s hot, as an actor? Do you have the urge to capitalise on these opportunities?
“Yeah, sure. But also, I’m getting older, so I’m not getting crazy about it. I’ve felt a certain homesickness because I’ve been traveling so much over the last year. I want to take it easy now, and only do the stuff that I really believe in. So this is a change, which just happened during the last year. I realised, ‘I want to spend more time at home. I want to spend more time in Berlin, and in Barcelona.’ I don’t feel the pressure to have to do everything, just because it’s good momentum.”
Are you interested in directing?
“No, no, no. No I just joined a production company [Amusement Park Films]. Our target is to co-produce international films. So this is my first step to widen my scope, because if you do this for a long time, you feel how limited you are as an actor. You always have to sit there and wait for a good project, so I want to have more influence on projects. And not necessarily me as an actor, I’m also interested in producing films where there’s no part for me. And directing, the more I do it, the more respect I have for that job. I mean, maybe I will do it in a couple of years, and it would be something very intimate. Definitely not Captain America.”
What sort of projects are you interested in developing?
“I have to be interested by the project… by the script, by the part. And the more diverse that it is, the better. That is really fun. It’s great if you have the possibility to join, for example, this ‘Marvel family’, and to be in a film, and in this universe, but then do something completely different again. I’m also very curious about doing television. I just want to keep doing different things.”
Alone In Berlin is released in cinemas on March 2.
This dude is awesome