Schtonk!
| Schtonk! | |
|---|---|
 DVD Cover | |
| Directed by | Helmut Dietl |
| Written by |
Helmut Dietl Ulrich Limmer |
| Starring |
Götz George Uwe Ochsenknecht Christiane Hörbiger |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 115 minutes |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | German |
Schtonk! is a 1992 satirical German film, retelling the hoax of the Hitler Diaries.
Subtitled Der Film zum Buch vom Führer ("The film accompanying the Führer's book"), the film is a farce about the events when, in 1983, German Stern magazine began to publish, with great fanfare, the 60 volumes of the alleged diaries of Adolf Hitler – which two weeks later turned out to be entirely fake.
The film is co-written and directed by Helmut Dietl. Dietl researched the scandal for two years and has been quoted as having to leave out several real events from the film because they were too outrageous.
The title is a bow to Charlie Chaplin's classic The Great Dictator, in which the Führer repeatedly uses "Schtonk!" as an expression of disgust – the word has no meaning in German but resembles the Bavarian Gschtonk! (Gestank, meaning stench), and Stunk (pronounced as shtoonk), a colloquial expression for a scuffle or altercation.
Plot
Fritz Knobel (the film's alter-ego of real-life forger Konrad Kujau) supports himself by faking and selling Nazi memorabilia. So he sells a portrait of Eva Braun and one volume of Hitler's alleged diaries to factory owner Karl Lenz. Lenz presents this on a "birthday party to the Führer" to his guests, among them sleazy journalist Hermann Willié. Willié is working for the magazine "HH press" (real-world Stern magazine is located in Hamburg, which is abbreviated "HH" on German car license plates; "HH" is pronounced "haha", but is also an abbreviation of "heil Hitler"). In the events Knobel writes down according to what happens around him; after he meets his later lover Martha, she becomes his inspiration for Eva Braun. As he then comes under increasing stress, having to deliver the remaining volumes that he had already sold, he turns more and more into a mock image of Hitler himself.
International awards
Nominations
In 1993, the film Schtonk! was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Foreign Language Film (losing to the French film Indochine),[1] as well as for a Golden Globe in the same category (losing there to Indochine also).
Won
In 1992, Schtonk! won 3 Film Awards in Gold at the German Film Awards in the categories Outstanding Feature Film, Outstanding Individual Achievement: Actor (Götz George), and Outstanding Individual Achievement: Direction (Helmut Dietl), as well as the Best Screenplay Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival (Helmut Dietl, Ulrich Limmer). In 1993, Harald Juhnke won the Ernst Lubitsch Award for his role as Pit Kummer in Schtonk!
Major characters
- Götz George – Hermann Willié (journalist; fictional equivalent of Gerd Heidemann)
- Uwe Ochsenknecht – Fritz Knobel (forger Konrad Kujau)
- Christiane Hörbiger – Freya von Hepp (Hermann Göring's grand niece, Willié's/Heidemann's noble girl friend)
- Dagmar Manzel - Biggi
- Veronica Ferres – Martha (Knobel's lover)
- Ulrich Mühe – Dr. Wieland (publisher)
- Harald Juhnke – Pit Kummer (Willié's boss)
- Hermann Lause – Kurt Glück
- Martin Benrath – Uwe Esser
See also
- List of submissions to the 65th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
- List of German submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
References
- ↑ "The 65th Academy Awards (1993) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
External links
- Schtonk! at the Internet Movie Database