If you have a chance to see the film Fatherland by Pawel Pawlikowski, then I strongly recommend it. It’s an amazingly realistic and carefully crafted reconstruction of the visit of Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika to Frankfurt and then Weimar in 1949 to receive Goethe prizes. I don’t know how far it is fiction or non-fiction. It feels appallingly real in a very understated way with admirable performances by Sandra Hüller and Hans Zischler, also both understated, but profound. It’s on at the Genesis Cinema.
I could not agree more – a masterpiece
Seen it, love it. Great cinematography & Sandra Huller always understated, always magnificent.
Fantastic soundtrack too. Not sure if I enjoyed it as much as his earlier films – Ida and Cold War but it’s definitely an impressive achievement. There is a very good fictionalised account of one of Mann’s speaking tours in the US in the late 1930’s/early 40’s (when he was trying to alert America to the dangers of Nazism) in novella form called ‘Thomas Mann in Gary, Indiana’ (a place he never actually visited). It’s by the writer Mary Gordon and is part of her collection The Liar’s Wife, published in 2015.
Dear Joan, Thank you. Good suggestion. Charles