Murderers Among Us

"The murderers are among us" is a remarkable and ground breaking film: the first German film made after the war. Just for this it deserves wider recognition.

Filmed in the actual ruins of Berlin in 1945/46, this film tells many stories on many levels. Excellent black & white imagery and camera work which really captures the mood and setting.

There is emotional, psychological and physical devastation here. Everything and everyone is ruined, the future wiped away replaced only by recent horrors and appalling choices. "War forces us to choose between greater or lesser evils..."

Hildegard Knef (Suzanne) is beautiful and restrained. She wants a "normal life", whatever that is, in post-apocalyptic Berlin, and will fashion it from what comes to hand. Her past, in a concentration camp, is so bad, that it is not mentioned by her or the film makers, only hinted at. Wilhelm Borchert (Dr Hans Mertens) has also returned from war. He is hopelessly damaged... No spoilers.

Although acted expertly, Knef's story doesn't quite hold up, hence the 7 and not higher. But otherwise this film is limited only by the circumstances and zero resources.

A very interesting and worthwhile film. Watch The Murderers Are Among Us and see what you think. T.

"Die Morder sind unter uns" is a film about guilt,helplessness and incapacity.Its story is told through two main protagonists: Dr.Mertens (Ernst Wilhelm Borchert) and Suzanne Wallner (Hildegard Knef).Mertens is a doctor by profession yet he is an angry man as he hates the fact the war has killed countless innocent people. He is horrified to personally experience that in all wars pawns are always sacrificed to save the king. It is equally hard for the photographer Suzanne Wallner to forget her past. She gets tremendous shock as upon her arrival she finds that her city has turned into a pitiful heap of rubble. Both of them are lonely souls.In this film there is a villain too. He appears in the form of an evil Nazi man Bruckner.Die Morder sind unter uns was the first film made by DEFA (Deutsche Film Aktiengesellschaft). It might appear rather unusual but this film has film noir kind of looks. Expectations were very high with this film. Staudte was triumphant to have created a ground-breaking film. In the original version of the script Bruckner is shot by Mertens.This end was changed on the wishes of the Soviet Cultural officer Dymshitz as he reckoned that a notion of self justice should not be propagated.Staudte was fortunate enough to have Soviet side willing to produce the film as it was rejected by English and American military authorities.Die Morder sind unter uns occupies a unique place in world cinema history as it established the antifascist genre in DEFA film.

This film is certainly worthwhile for a serious student of movie history, given its circumstances. The first film released in post WW-II Germany, etc...Yes, the plot line development is predictable from the midpoint of the film onwards. And sure, there are the side-stories regarding post-war German guilt and apologia and its role in the making of this film. I'll give you all of that.

But the reason a movie lover wants to watch this film is two-fold. One, the stark B/W cinematography of this film is deeply affecting and very unique for the time period. And two, the wonderful, sublime beauty of a young Hildegard Knef. She is so fragile in this film, it's a real contrast with her later persona of the German song chantreuse of the 60s.

It's hard to find this movie on DVD, but it's out there. If you find it to buy or rent, give it a watch, well worth the time. 8/10 rating.

This powerful piece of Historic Fiction shows a realistic look at Post-WWII Germany, and the determination of the shook-up nation to pick up the pieces and survive their darkest chapter in modern history. Many gripping moments include the "return" of a young woman (played by a very young Hildegard Knef) who had spent years in Nazi concentration camps. Her innocence and purity are reflected in the woman's complete willingness to "forgive and forget" the attrocities witnessed and experienced.

A main character was a commanding officer responsible for horrible acts against innocent civilians, while another had refused to take part in such evil. The final scenes "drive home" the message how some feel no remorse for their evil deeds, while others remain plagued with the images of those mercilessly tortured and murdered.

Seeing the young woman who had been victimized by the evil regime step in to prevent a altercation between the man she loves and the man responsible for much of the suffering shows that humans are capable of forgiving and thus surviving into a better life, free of hate and vengeance.

I highly recommend the original German version with or without the subtitles. Many of the effects require the original sound track. This would be a valuable teaching tool for an advanced German class, or a related European History lesson

Immediately after WWII, Italy and Japan developed strong national cinemas. The same thing didn't happen in Germany. I really didn't know they made any films in the aftermath, but apparently they did. The Murderers Are Among us was made just the year after Germany lost the war. It's quite a strong film, feeling a lot like the film noir style that was all the rage in America at the time (which, in turn, was heavily influenced by German silent cinema). Ernst Wilhelm Borchert plays an alcoholic doctor who is haunted by his participation in the war. He hooks up with his new roommate (Hildegard Knef), which helps him a little, but then he runs into his former commanding officer (Arno Paulsen), which sends him into an angry, murderous downward spiral. The film is actually thinly veiled propaganda, expressing that not all Germans (be they soldiers or civilians) were okay with wiping out entire Polish villages or, you know, the Jews. Eh, maybe I can accept that, but, taking the film as some kind of apology, it all feels a tad too little too late. I do, however, like the appeal for peace and justice, as opposed to revenge. The last thing the world needed at the time was more violence. The filmmaking is very beautiful. Sometimes it feels like a dry run for The Third Man. I don't know if Carol Reed saw this film, but one filmmaker who most certainly did was Lars von Trier. His film Europa cribs from this one pretty liberally at times, most notably the image of a snowfall in a bombed-out church.