‘Never Look Away’

At just over three hours long, I wondered if the German movie ‘Never Look Away’ was going to test my patience. Actually, the time flew by.

The film is loosely based on the life of the artist Gerhard Richter as he lives through the depredations of the Nazi era, the bombing of Dresden and the soul sapping autocracy of Stalin’s communism in east Germany. There have been some very decent films about the nature of totalitarianism by the Germans, ‘Downfall’ and ‘The Lives of Others’ being particularly outstanding.

The young boy Kurt is devoted to his aunt, a young and carefree adult. But her eccentric behaviour is identified as schizophrenia and she is first sterilised then gassed as a citizen unfit to produce healthy Aryan children. Unbeknown to Kurt, his later father-in-law proves to be the professor of eugenics responsible for his aunt’s death.

As he grows to maturity as an artist within the strict confines of East Germany, Kurt grows increasingly discontented with the rigid conformity required for a socialist citizen and he escapes to the west with his young wife, Ellie, where he can be free to create what he wishes.

The film is beautifully shot and has moments of great tenderness as well as tragedy. It explores the nature of free thinking where independent thought is strictly verboten. As a historical point, the Nazi regime presented an exhibition of Modern Art to exemplify its sordid and warped nature – but the citizens of the Reich excitedly queued round the block to see it. Both the Nazi’s and the Communists were pitifully alike in their suppression of artistic endeavour and this is mirrored by the struggle of Kurt to find out who and what he is.

If this all sounds terribly worthy, ‘Never Look Away’ features a superb cast of complex characters in a tumultuous period of German history and the triumph of the human spirit. The secret ex-nazi turned communist doctor tells his son-in-law that “It’s not enough just to be good”. He’s wrong and sees in Kurt’s vivid painted depiction of his troubled past how the man’s crimes come back to haunt him.