The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum
The opening sequence
The clip focuses on the first man who is walking towards the steps of the ledge and climbs them; there is also a second man holding a camera scanning the area. Immediately,, the first man is visible from the steps; the second man turns away and keeps scanning the area with his camera to a point wherewhere he turns to the audience’s viewaudience’s view. Throughout this shot, the stock is colored. From here, the stock is now black and white and shows a cross in the middle of a hyphened frame of the first man, tagging him as a target. Ideally, the film’s camera is positioned to show the camera within the scene. These cameras are used to show the events of the film in different perspectives.
The film’s camera welcomes the audience to view as the actual audience, while the camera within the scene welcomes the viewer to participate in the events of the films. It is undoubtedly clear that the camera man in the film is following the first man, while the film’s camera is used to show the audience what is going on in the film. Having a shot where the audience view the first man from the second man’s camera, is used to welcome the audience into the reality of the film, in that, they see what the second man is seeing – a target. The two cameras create a scenario whereby the viewer gets to see the first man, who they will later come to find out is wanted for being a terrorist.
Surveillance and Gazing
From my viewpoint, the shot shows the numerous male police officers walking into the view and moving away as they search the house. This scene also puts Katharina in the spotlight as she is asked to undress in front of the police men, who are mostly men, with the exemption of one lady who accompanies her into the bathroom to do further checks on her before she dresses up. Being in support of Gerhardt’s first interpretation, the scene is meant to show the vulnerability of Katharina while in the arms of the Law enforcers, in order to gain understanding of the situation she is in. I believe this scene really defines the title of the film – Lost Honor of Katharina Blum – when she is stripped in front of all those people present in the room.
Ideally, this scene to a large extent, builds up on the perspective of surveillance, which is also evident on other scenes. By the police searching Katharina’s house, it is undeniable that they have been watching her in order to think that Ludwig would be in the house. This is heightened further when Katharina is asked to strip and the lady does more checks on her in from of the male police officers. Owing to the fact that Katharina has no idea that Ludwig is a terrorist, the state ensures that she looks suspicious by going into her home and further humiliating her by stripping her naked in front of several male police officers, to further scrutinize her.
The relationship among Institutions of Power
The ending of the film is marked by the speech given during Werner Tötges’ funeral after he was shot by Katharina in her apartment. In the speech the Speaker highlights the relationship between the media, law enforcement and the democratic governance, by saying that the attack on the journalist was also an attack on the entire media and the democracy. Without finding out the reason as to why Werner was shot, the speaker terms his killing as a violation of the freedom of the press.
Ideally, it is the responsibility of the police to conduct investigation and gather information relating to a crime, which is then presented in court as evidence against the suspect. In this film, Werner who is tightly connected to Commissioner Beizmenne is able to access information relating to Ludwig and Katharina, which he presents to the public in a tabloid. The relationship between the media and the law enforcement in this case, is used to act against the innocent citizens, creating an atmosphere whereby the public can judge the individual based on the one-sided information from these two powers. The scene refers to when Heinrich openly criticized the media, specifically Springer Press in his article, for attacking the RAF and explicitly blaming the movement in several papers, for several attacks even before the results of police investigation were out.
On another account, after Katharina is released and is escorted out by police officers, she is met by a large crowd of media men, all flashing their cameras at her and asking questions. Her attempts to hide her face go futile when one police officer grabs a handful of her hair and tells her to allow the media to do its work, which is to report to the public. The scene also clearly shows the strong relationship between the media and the law enforcement. Their collaboration in informing the public of the events, is meant to gather favor for themselves from the public amidst the atmosphere of fear, in order to have a large population that is against the terrorists.
The film explicitly heightens the responsibility of the law enforcement and the media in creating a “democratic” environment for the public. Since the media is believed to be a true source of information, its collaboration with the police makes it better for the information released by the media to be believed as to be true. In this film, the media is depicted to be attacking the terrorists and anyone associated with them, just like the Springer Press did before the formation of RAF by Alfred Klaus in June 1970 and during the active times of movement. The media played a big role in informing the public about the activities of the RAF and the outcomes of undergoing investigations even before the results were announced. Undoubtedly, the police and the media worked hand in hand to facilitate the release of such information. From the film, there is a collaborative relationship between the corporate media, state security forces and the democratic governance in Germany.