Amen. (2002)

Director:

Costa-Gavras

Writers:

Costa-Gavras (writer)
Jean-Claude Grumberg (writer)

Release Date:

27 February 2002 (France)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | War

Plot:

During WWII SS officer Kurt Gerstein tries to inform Pope Pius XII about Jews being sent to concentration camps. Young Jesuit priest Riccardo Fontana gives him a hand.

Plot Keywords:

SS | Priest | Jesuit | Pope | German Army

Awards:

2 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Ulrich Tukur	...	Kurt Gerstein
Mathieu Kassovitz	...	Riccardo Fontana
Ulrich Mühe	...	Doctor
Michel Duchaussoy	...	Cardinal
Ion Caramitru	...	Count Fontana
Marcel Iures	...	Pope
Friedrich von Thun	...	Gerstein's Father
Antje Schmidt	...	Mrs. Gerstein
Hanns Zischler	...	Grawitz
Sebastian Koch	...	Höss
Erich Hallhuber	...	Von Rutta
Burkhard Heyl	...	Director
Angus MacInnes	...	Tittman
Bernd Fischerauer	...	Bishop von Galen
Pierre Franckh	...	Pastor Wehr

Also Known As:

Amen (France)
Der Stellvertreter (Germany)
Eyewitness
Le vicaire (France) (working title)

Runtime:

132 min

Country:

France | Germany | Romania

Language:

English | French | Italian | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Finland:K-13 | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 | Peru:14 | Singapore:NC-16 (re-rating) | Spain:13 | UK:PG | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Bucharest, Romania

Company:

Canal+

Trivia:

The Vatican did not give a permission to shoot the film in their buildings. After searching a scenery of adequate size for the scenes taking place in the Vatican, Costa-Gavras finally chose Europe's largest building, the House of the People (Casa Poporului) in Bucharest. Some of the outdoor scenes were shot in Mogosoaia Palace, some fourteen kilometers northwest of Bucharest.

Goofs:

Factual errors: In one of the scenes they say that the Treblinka camp is out of gas, referring to Zyklon B. Treblinka didn't use Zyklon B, instead they used carbon monoxide.

Quotes:

Karl: In these heroic times, have you acquired some title or some kind of rank?
Kurt Gerstein: Lieutenant of the Waffen-SS.
Karl: Go to the SS Transportation Department. Thanks for your visit.

Powerful and Striking

In World War II, the sanitation engineer and family man Kurt Gerstein (Ulrich Tukur) is assigned by SS to be the Head of the Institute for Hygiene to purify the water for the German Army in the front. Later, he is invited to participate in termination of plagues in the concentration camps and he develops the lethal gas Zyklon-B. When he witnesses that the SS is killing Jews instead, he decides to denounce the genocide to the Pope to expose to the world and save the Jewish families. The idealist Jesuit priest Riccardo Fontana (Mathieu Kassovitz) from an influent Italian family gives his best efforts being the liaison of Gerstein and the leaders of the Vatican.

I do not have the knowledge of history to know whether this story is accurate or manipulative, but as a movie it is powerful and striking. Costa-Gavras directs this film about Holocaust based on the history of the German Kurt Gerstein, who unsuccessfully tried to tell the world about the mass murderers in the concentration camps. The performance of Ulrich Tukur is magnificent, giving total credibility to his character. With regard to the role of the Catholic Church, I believe the exposition is simplistic and does not show the big picture of the political environment that the Vatican was living in that historical moment, focusing only in the attempt of the SS officer in having an audience with the Pope. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Amém." ("Amen.")