The German Lesson (Deutschstunde): A Visual Poem About Pain

'The German Lesson' is about a conflict between art and dictatorship, how the Nazi supremacy turned a father into a cruel man with no feelings. It is an eye-catching adaptation of a German post-war novel written by Siegfried Lenz.

The German Lesson (2019)

Genres: Drama, German Film, War

Cast: Levi Eisenblätter, Ulrich Noethen, Tobias Moretti

It occurs during World War II, in a German detention camp, where a 17-year-old boy is being forced to write an essay about 'The Joys of Duty'. Unfortunately, he has no good memories about 'duty' (or his father's duty), nothing good to write about it. He remembers (metaphorically) the paintings burning on the shoreline, that's how we get a flashback of his painful memories from childhood, and the story begins.

The protagonist is shown as a little boy, Siggi Jepsen (Levi Eisenblätter), his father Jens Jepsen (Ulrich Noethen) is a policeman and is worse than strict. Siggi has two siblings. Hilke Jepsen (Maria Dragus) is his elder sister, she comes and goes throughout the movie. His elder brother, Klaus Jepsen (Louis Hofmann), is in a prison camp. There is only Siggy left in the house, so he has to work with his father. The village they live in is very small and close to the sea bank. 

Max Nansen (Tobias Moretti) is a fine painter and also a friend of Jens. When the capital declares a ban on the painting, Jens immediately rushes to Max's house. And here begins the conflict between Jens' duty (more likely dictatorship) and Max's art. The art of painting is everything to Max, he cannot imagine his life without it. On the other hand, Jens will not hesitate to hand him over to the capital if he breaks the law.

Little Siggi is watching everything, his father's cruelty and ego, Max's helplessness, his father burning the paintings, his mother's misery, his sister leaving the house, his brother being shot, how his father's duty is destroying his family. Siggi's character is very silent as if he is an observer. He is trying to fix things himself. In the eyes of his father, he becomes a traitor. Therefore, he also has to go through pain.

Would you fight for the capital or your family and friends?

I enjoyed the cinematography of the German shoreline. The story of the movie is nicely written, but I would say that the screenwriter quickly wrapped up the ending. I wanted to see more about teenage Siggi. The cast is excellent, I really liked the character of Tobias Moretti, he is a living painting himself. They used simple English for the dubbing. When a movie gets dubbed, it loses the essence of its original language, but the dubbing of Deutschstunde is okay overall. If you liked Jojo Rabbit (2019), then you will definitely love it.