Who is the gentleman with the polished bald head and the distinctive little beard under his nose? Prussian disciplinarian or Hitler parodist? One of the leading public prosecutors of the young Federal Republic? Or one of the weirdest supporting actors in German cinema? The answer is: yes!
Dietrich Kuhlbrodt, born in 1932, is a pensioner in the idyllic staircase district of Blankenese. He is wide awake, argumentative, sometimes pensive, consistently funny. Brigitte, with whom he was together for 50 years, has unfortunately already left. But what does that mean! Her room is as it was, her spirit still hovers around. Dietrich’s favorite stuffed animal, Wauwi, has also never left and is always with him.
But how did little Dietrich become the great Kuhlbrodt, the senior public prosecutor who prosecutes perpetrators of the “Third Reich” but likes to play them in his private life? Kuhlbrodt takes us on a breathtaking journey through time into dark German post-war history, into all the stink and mustiness, the pettiness and spitefulness.
Kuhlbrodt flirted with R.W. Fassbinder, wrote a screenplay for Werner Schroeter, shot an episode for Michael Bryntrup’s Jesus epic, but above all he let off steam with Christoph Schlingensief: he played Nazis like Joseph Goebbels or turned GDR reunification citizen into sausages. And that’s just a small selection!
A paradoxical, dazzling life in a sparkling documentary! A huge grab bag full of rare film clips – and with a jazzy, fluffy soundtrack by Helge Schneider.
FESTIVAL VITA
58. Hof International Film Festival
66. Nordic Film Days Lübeck