Like “Room,” the historical drama “Labyrinth of Lies,” is about living in the bubble.
That would be a Germany in denial about the past. Kids were told that their father was just a soldier in World War II but not that he belonged to the Nazi party or about the death camps where he might have served.
A decade later these “soldiers” assimilated back in to civilian life. Some lived next door, some held positions of power, all rubbed shoulders with those who survived.
“Labyrinth” is a German language film by Giulio Ricciarelli, a TV actor making his feature directorial debut. It’s a fact based story about an idealistic young prosecutor who discovers a banal school teacher is implicated in murders at Auschwitz.
When he starts picking at that thread, the lies a generation had been told about their parents and their country begin to unravel. The lead character, played by Alexander Fehling, is a composite of several prosecutors who investigated and pursued these crimes, for which several hundred average Germans were prosecuted in contrast to more high-profile war crime trials.
It’s shocking to learn these crimes were ignored for so long, but the drama is more informational than gripping.
*** Three Stars
With Alexander Fehling, Gert Voss, Andre Szymanski, Friederike Becht, Johannes Krisch, Hansi Jochman. Produced by Jakob Claussen. Written by Elisabeth Bartel, Giulio Ricciarelli. Directed by Giulio Ricciarelli. Approximate running time: 124 minutes. Rated R: Sexuality.
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