Taking a theological look at Catholicism under the Nazi rule, Max Muller Bhavan’s Wednesday cinematic outing, as part of its Stammtisch initiative, features the German film The Ninth Day (Der neunte Tag) by the renowned auteur Volker Schlondroff of the seminal and celebrated Tin Drum fame.

Stammtisch, is a congregation offering German language students an informal opportunity to converse in German with each other as well as Germans living and working in Bangalore.  The evening, which is kicked off with the film screening, serves as a springboard in German comprehension and discussion as also a intimate glimpse into German culture. The screening though is open to non-German speaking film buffs as well.

Loosely based on the prison diaries of  real-life Luxembourg priest, Father Jean Bernard, The Ninth Day, is a poignant and powerful meditation on faith, redemption and the cost of true discipleship. Physically broken, but spiritually undaunted, a pious Catholic priest is caught in the Hamletian dilemma of having to choose between physical or spiritual survival as he has to not only battle a Gestapo officer bent on crushing his spirits but also his own conscience and commitments as he grapples with the Third Reich. 

Ethical questions
The morally complex film, which echoes the concerns theme similarly tackled in A Man for All Seasons, involves ethical questions of conscience wherein the protagonist wrestles with what German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer —himself executed by the Nazis — called “costly grace.”

It examines Nazism from the viewpoint of victims through the plight of a Catholic priest from Luxembourg imprisoned at Dachau. The film focuses on the special nine-day leave the clergyman is granted to travel home from the Dachau Concentration camp, for the funeral of his mother. During his nine days in Luxembourg it takes a strong will on the priest’s part to resist the lure of the  German officer’s offer to extend his special leave forever if he co-operates, or to shoot all clergymen at Dachau and Kremer’s family if he does not.

The cruel logic behind the totalitarian regime and its barbarism comes through fully through this movie. The crew has put in stellar performances.

Screening details
Screening at 6.30 pm, MMB, 716, CMH Road, Indiranagar I Stage. Admission Free.

Those interested in more details, call up : 25205305/06/07/08