Oberst Redl

Description

This story shook the international press on the eve of the First World War. Alfred Redl, the son of a poor railroad worker with many children from Galicia, shunned his family since childhood, he did not want to be what he was born to be. After graduating from the imperial military school, he makes a breakthrough career in the army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, torn apart by hostility. Taking the position of head of the counterintelligence department, Redl gives all his strength to strengthen the position of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. He becomes dangerous for the forces opposed to the monarchy, and they fabricate the "Redl affair", where they accuse him of selling secret military documents to the enemy. Director Istvan Szabo is not interested in the act itself, but in the ways to it - the entire chain of experiences of a person who began with loyalty and service to the emperor and the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, and ended with betrayal: a friend, relatives, uniform, ideas in which he so believed. 1985 Cannes International Film Festival Jury Prize.