Colonel Redl

Star Review

After their marvellous work on the Oscar-winning Mephisto, István Szabó and Klaus Maria Brandauer collaborated again with Colonel Redl, a gripping biopic about one of history's most notorious traitors. An ambitious Austrian officer who quickly rose to head the counter-intelligence efforts of the Austro-Hungarian empire, Alfred Redl was also a duplicitous spy who sold crucial mobilisation plans to the Russians, an act that sent thousands of his countrymen to their death. In a similar vein to Downfall, this trenchant character study refuses to depict Redl as an inhuman monster, instead giving us a portrait of a deeply insecure and pathetic man. Brandauer excels at playing flawed outsiders, and he is quite brilliant here, delicately suggesting that Redl's shame at his poor Ukranian heritage and closeted homosexuality combined to create a dangerous personality crisis. When he blurts out classified information in the Viennese woods, it is more an irrational act of self-destruction than one of treason. This complex, engrossing drama deservedly the Jury Prize at Cannes.

Alex Davidson on 6th October 2006
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Film Description

Following their success in the marvellous Mephisto, director Szabo and actor Brandauer collaborated again in another examination of moral corruption - an ambitious officer becomes the head of the secret police in the last days of the Austro-Hungarian empire, only to become involved in political deception. Winner of the Best Foreign Language Film BAFTA.

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Film Details

Cast

Klaus Maria Brandauer, Armin Mueller-Stahl

Technical Details