The Promise
Das Versprechen (1995) is one of the most innovative films by Margarthe von Trotta. Von Trotta never shies away from political subject matters, nor does she in this film. Das Versprechen traces the history of the post-war occupation and division of Germany through one pair of lovers, but it does so with incredible intimacy and a few very interesting political twists in direction.
The love story is that of Sophie and Konrad, who are separated by the Wall after trying to escape from East Berlin in 1961. When Sophie makes it to West Germany and Konrad is left behind, he promises to join her later, but the two have little choice except to carry on with their lives – even though they long to be together. Seven years later, Konrad is a respected astrophysicist, which affords him the freedom to travel to Prague. In Prague, Sophie and Konrad can be together, but are filled with the pain and frustration of being separated for so long. Yet, when Russian tanks arrive, even this reunion gets cut short. Sophie becomes pregnant, but the two cannot be together other again until over a decade later, by which point it is 1980 and they have both married other people.
In this film, political boundaries are the only thing keeping the two lovers apart. Often films and narratives that deal with divided nations, like Germany, extend the lover metaphor into a story that symbolizes the political situation that the creators wish to address. Von Trotta, on the other hand, deals with the political situation directly in the story of Sophie and Konrad. As film reviewer James Berardinelli observed, Sophie and Konrad are both of the same age, race, religion, and nationality, the only obstacle in their way “is an ugly construct of stone and barbed wire that becomes a symbol of the cold war.”
The film begins just months after the construction of the wall, ending in the mad celebration of taking it down. Following these lovers through the decades in between creates empathy for the real life suffering that separation caused for couples like Sophie and Konrad, as well as many families. Hence, viewers detect a distinct level of ambiguity as to Konrad’s motivation from the very incident at the beginning of the film when he was left behind. Did he have stay behind to protect Sophie and their friends or did he choose to stay behind because he was afraid to leave his family?
| 1 | 2 | next >>