Analysis Of The Film Der Untertan - 1439 Words

In Wolfgang Staudte’s (1951) film, Der Untertan, the main character named Diederich Hessling develops from being a meek and cowardly boy to become a manipulative and self-involved man. The film uses many instances of imagery and subtle moments of foreshadowing to convey the ideals of the people of that time which lead up to the World Wars. Diederich is a typical Prussian citizen who blindly follows, supports the true â€Å"German values†, and bows to his superiors while stepping on his subordinates. The film illustrates Diederich’s character development, his shift in personality, and political confrontations through carefully crafted camera techniques that also highlight the time period that the film was set in as well as produced in.†¦show more content†¦There could not have been a better time for this to begin to happen to Diederich because soon after joining this university corps, his father gets ill and passes away leaving the family’s pap er business, money, and females of the family to Diederich’s responsibility. Later, when Diederich is forced to fulfill his civic duty of military service, he once again gets the sense of amazement as the sergeant aims to break each individual recruit in order to rebuild them as a proper serviceman that would be honored to wear the uniform of the Kaiser. At this point, we see start to see the manipulative side Diederich come out when he approaches the doctor, who was shown earlier as a member of the same university corps and asks him to relieve his pain. This doctor then gets Diederich honorably discharged on the condition that he had flat feet and could not perform to the standards of the military. To make himself seem more noble and respected, Diederich deceived his peers by buying a cigar and claiming his captain gave it to him as he begged him to stay in the military and serve his beloved country. By receiving more respect and admiration from his classmates, he begin s to see opportunities that can further his ambitions through lies and manipulation. This is seen again when he runs into Agnes again and spend a day on the lake discussing their future together after they spent the previous evening together but when Mr. Gà ¶pel visited Diederich to inform him of