"Das schweigende Klassenzimmer" tells the story of a GDR class that illegaly listens to western radio and organizes a minute of silence for the victims of the Hungarian rebellion, leading to a series of serious investigations through the government, that makes them question their roles and relationships.
The movie quite impressively shows how easy it can be to be force into the oppositional role in a society based on lies and strict propaganda. At the same time it shows how hard it can be to do the right thing under pressure and not to let someone force you into wrong actions. Unfortunately, this movie looks awfully German and as of today I can not grasp why but you can always easily identify German movies by their look. The film is mostly carried by the story and the decent acting, apart from that it is pretty much your average German movie production.
All in all this movie raises important questions and sheds light on an interesting chapter of history but isn't brave enough to really shake the audience to their foundation in order to stay viewable for larger groups.
The movie quite impressively shows how easy it can be to be force into the oppositional role in a society based on lies and strict propaganda. At the same time it shows how hard it can be to do the right thing under pressure and not to let someone force you into wrong actions. Unfortunately, this movie looks awfully German and as of today I can not grasp why but you can always easily identify German movies by their look. The film is mostly carried by the story and the decent acting, apart from that it is pretty much your average German movie production.
All in all this movie raises important questions and sheds light on an interesting chapter of history but isn't brave enough to really shake the audience to their foundation in order to stay viewable for larger groups.