Vienna is Different: 50 Years after the Anschluss

Director: Susan Korda, David W. Leitner
Screenwriters: David W. Leitner

Institute History

  • 1990 Sundance Film Festival

Description

When Hitler's army invaded Austria in 1938, not a shot was fired. His motorcade sped across the border toward his birthplace, Vienna, to the cheers of Austrian citizens. So begins Vienna Is Different, a searing psychological study of a nation and its citizenry. Shot in and around Vienna and Braunau in March of 1988 during the official "Year of Reflection," a month-long commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Auschluss, the film holds a mirror up to the Austrian people who, as Strauss's Die Flederma us alarmingly sings, forget what cannot he changed anyway. Filmmakers Korda and Leitner ask about Austrian responsibility to history at the height of the Kurt Waldheim controversy over his shrouded past as a member of Hitler's army.

Foregoing formal interviews, the film has a nimble, alert camera which shoots surreptitiously and informally to catch its subjects naturally. Despite the numerous people who appear onscreen, the footage is expertly collected, never redundant, and paced so the effect IS one of constant information, fascination and shock. Radio excerpts, television coverage, and brief hits of history create a perspective that could be called the "unofficial" Austrian view. Ultimately the filmmakers are asking what discourages altitudes from the past. Vienna Is Different answers in an intelligent, articulate, and provocative manner by pointing out how history could repeat itself in Austria.

Monday, January 22 10:00 a.m.
Holiday Village Cinema IIl

Tuesday, January 23 1:00 p.m.
Egyptian Theatre

Thursday, January 25 10:00 a.m.
Holiday Village Cinema III

Saturday, January 27 4:00p.m.
Holiday Village Cinema III

$5.00

Screening Details

Credits

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