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THE NINTH DAY Send This Review to a Friend
German director Volker Schlöndorff has long been a filmmaker who likes to say something significant on screen. He is doing it again with “The Ninth Day,” a grim drama about a priest’s crisis of conscience under persecution by the Nazis. There is also an element of examining the role of the Vatican in its since-criticized passivity toward the unleashed Nazi brutality. The film has been written by Eberhard Görner and Andreas Pflüger and is loosely based on the prison diaries of Reverend Jean Bernard.
Ulrich Matthes is excellent in his restrained performance as Abbé Henri Kremer, a Catholic priest who finds himself in a terrible bind. First, we see him in the horrendous Dachau concentration camp where he has been imprisoned and is struggling to survive. Once again we are reminded of the depths to which the Nazis descended. Kremer is surprised to find himself temporarily freed to return to his family in occupied Luxembourg. But there’s a catch.
He is being asked to secure the cooperation of the Catholic Church by getting his superiors to endorse the Nazis. If he refuses, not only will he be sent back to Dachau, but there is the threat of executing fellow priests. He is told that it is in his power to save them. When it becomes clear that he will not be able to produce the result asked, it comes down to at least his willingness to sign a pro-Nazi statement. What should he do? What will he do?
Some of the dialogue within the church attempts to justify the reluctance of the Pope to intervene against the persecution of Jews and others for fear of making matters worse, which seems kind of a whitewash by the film. However, the main concentration is on the individual dilemma of Kremer, who knows of the potential consequences for his family and his colleagues in the priesthood. Various characters demonstrate conflicting attitudes and courses of action.
Schlöndorf has never been a director who strives for subtlety. He presents issues with clarity and compels us to deal with situations head-on. “The Ninth Day” becomes as moving as it is disturbing and forces us to ponder what we might have done had we been trapped in such a wicked situation. A Kino International Release.
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