Murray State University Cinema International is screening the German docudrama Endlich Tacheles – translated Straight Talk: Reconciliation – on Thursday, Oct. 19, and Saturday, Oct. 21, at 7:30 p.m. inFaculty Hall Room 208 on the main campus of Murray State.
WKMS Morning Edition Host Daniel Hurt spoke with Cinema International director Terese St. Paul, associate professor of French at Murray State University, and Roxane Riegler, associate professor of German, about the film. It deals with the Holocaust and a young German Jew coming to terms with his family’s history.
Cinema International screens films from all over the world about various topics, but Paul said this season’s theme has been one of speaking truth and discovery.
This week’s film tackles the difficult subject of the Holocaust – the mass persecution and systematic genocide carried out by the Nazi German regime upon the Jewish population of Europe, which ultimately led to the death of around 6 million Jews. While the war ended with the defeat of the Nazis, the trauma from the Holocaust has become a burden carried by the victims of the atrocities, and their descendants.
This film deals with a young German Jew named Yaar who, in an act of rebellion, creates a video game that leads to his going on a journey of self-discovery.
“It's tackling the difficult issue of reconciliation with the past, and it's about a young, creative Jewish Berliner who dreams of creating a computer game on … the burden of Jewish legacy,” Paul said. “What does the Holocaust still have to do with young Jews and Germans today? That's the question that the film explores, and I think also prompts the viewer to think about holding on to the past to memory to guilt, to responsibility that comes through generations, right, and leads to an idea of recurrence.”
Riegler hopes people who see the film will learn how complex generational trauma can be.
“Using that new genre, which is very attractive to young people, [we can] see how complex history can be,” Riegler said. “At the same time, having a lot of compassion with victims, people who were actually killed … and I also hope that we as viewers will be touched emotionally, not only in our heads.”
