Nazis making an Oedipus movie while losing WWII—what could go wrong?
During the Greek summer in the war year of 1944, a German military unit sets up camp on the plateau of Thebes. Armed with a 16 mm camera, the captain of the unit, a former professor for classical Greek philology, comes up with the idea to film the myth of Oedipus.
Direction
Simon layers film-within-film until reality unravels beautifully.
Acting
Habich's professor-captain drips with deluded intellectual vanity.
Cinematography
16mm grain becomes character—history watching itself crumble.
Director
Rainer Simon
Matthias Habich
Hauptmann / Teiresias
Tatiana Lygari
Griechische Schauspielerin / Königin Iokaste
Jan Josef Liefers
Obergefreiter / Kameramann
Christos Tsagas
Griechischer Schauspieler / Kreon
Giorgos Moshidis
Bauer aus Theben
Peter Zimmermann
Funker
Wilfried Loll
Koch / Wagenlenker Laios
Marian Wolf
1. Kradfahrer
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made months after German reunification, it's East Germany's final feature film—a collapsing empire filming another collapsing empire filming tragedy.
The 16mm footage was actually shot by the actors, blurring documentary and fiction exactly as the plot demands.
XG
