'Labyrinth of Lies': German prosecutors use German law against Nazi war criminals

The workmanlike German-language drama Labyrinth of Lies delves into the so-called Frankfurt-Auschwitz trials of the early 1960s. Nazis had been tried for war crimes at Nuremberg, in Poland, and in Israel, but the Frankfurt-Auschwitz trials had a particular resonance and meaning: Germans prosecuted by Germans, under German criminal law.

The technicalities involved were legally and morally mind-boggling. The government could only charge offenders, former SS men, for specific acts committed outside the parameters of a soldier's hideous "duties." Gassing people systematically was not a prosecutable crime; beating an individual to death was.

Still, there was plenty of evidence of actionable offenses, just behind a thin veil of silence that protected guilty men, many who lived openly, arrogantly as free men in postwar Germany.

So discovers idealistic, naive young prosecutor Johann Radmann (Alexander Fehling), who is prodded by a crusading journalist (Andrew Szymanski) to investigate the background of a schoolteacher recognized by a camp survivor as a sadistic guard.

Radmann confirms the suspect's guilt, but encounters many layers of resistance. German citizens want the war forgotten; many in government share this view; and even the witness/survivor has deep reservations about pursuing a case, for complex reasons.

Radmann presses on, opening up a larger investigation that culminates in large-scale prosecution of hundreds of men. Radmann is a fictionalized character, but his boss, Fritz Bauer (played by the late actor Gert Voss) is drawn from history. Bauer did lead the successful prosecution of more than 700 Nazis.

The events are condensed here, in the manner of an efficient television drama, and dramatic shortcuts are taken. Radmann is half character, half dramatic device (his blond Aryan looks are almost comical) meant to represent a postwar generation able to pursue justice without the taint of complicity.

Even so, Radmann is forced to confront his own illusions about his family and perhaps himself. Had he been born a generation earlier, would he have acted righteously? What he learns of the actions of so many "average" Germans shakes this confidence.

Radmann takes depositions full of harrowing survivor testimony. These are simple, powerful scenes in Labyrinth of Lies, including a riveting image of a survivor's personal history moving a stenographer to tears. The gravity of these scenes sits uneasily with forays into Radmann's own life and disposition. Next to these, his girlfriend problems and crisis of confidence seem dangerously insignificant.

Clunky scenes aside, though, Labyrinth of Lies comes at a much-dramatized era in history from an interesting angle, and shows how Bauer's trials served as an overdue act of national accountability, legally and morally necessary to stand against national evasion and denial.

thompsg@phillynews.com

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Directed by Giulio Ricciarelli. With Alexander Fehling, Gert Voss, Andrew Szymanski. Distributed by Claussen Wobke Putz Filmproduktion.

Running time: 2 hours, 4 mins.

Parent's guide: R (language).

Playing at: Ritz East.EndText