Despite representing Germany at this year’s Hollywood Academy Oscars for Best International Film – where it will compete with Santiago Miter’s Argentina, 1985, starring Ricardo Darín and Peter Lanzani – the screenwriter and director of No News at the Front , Edward Bergerhe feels no national pride in the country.
“I don’t feel it because of the story,” Berger told the specialist film medium. Variety. “I could never say I’m proud to be German. Those words just don’t fit in my mouth, and rightly so. It would be difficult for me to think of representing the country because I can’t speak for the whole country.”
In an episode of Variety Awards Circuit PodcastEdward Berger talked about the nine Oscar nominations of No news at the front (second most of the year) and employing the most craftsmen of any non-English language film in history.
Finally, he shared why he feels a responsibility to portray accurately Germany’s role in some of humanity’s most devastating wars.
History and nominations
Distributed by Netflix and based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, No news at the front tells the story of a young German soldier and his terrifying experiences during the First World War.
Its nine Oscar nominations are for Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Art Direction, Cinematography, Makeup & Hairstyling, Sound, Visual Effects, Original Score, and International Feature Film (Germany). the movie too comes out a record seven BAFTAsthe most for a non-English film, surpassing the five achieved by Paradise cinema (1988).
Edward Berger was born in Germany, but his family origins are in Switzerland. Putting his roots in the context of the World Cup, he says: “If Germany play against Switzerland, I’m rooting for Germany. I hope Swiss listeners don’t get mad at me.”
But that’s all Berger is willing to discuss in order to bring his first Oscar-winning international film to Germany since then The life of others (2006).
This has been a tough time for the 53-year-old director, who won the BAFTA for Best Director on Sunday. He is the first BAFTA-winning director not to receive an Oscar nomination in the directing category since Ben Affleck (Argon), in 2012.
historical responsibility
“I feel a certain responsibility towards history, towards the last century in Germany,” he says. “I feel some guilt and shame, a lot, about what Germany has brought to the world. We wanted to bring that feeling into the film.”
The honor of receiving an Academy Award nomination is not something Berger takes lightly, and he’s incredibly grateful for it. The complicated relationship between the place you call home and acknowledging a nation’s grotesque deeds is something many Americans identify with, given their history of racism and inequality.
Adds Berger: “I’m sure a lot of people can’t identify with me, just as I don’t identify with them. The whole world is different. We are very happy to have been selected and to have the honor of celebrating the films.”
“Whatever happens, happens,” Berger continues. “And if Germany feels we represent them well, that would make me happy.”
Source: Clarin
