Die Reise

Summary

The Journey

Based on themes from the eponymous autobiography by Bernward Vesper, the son of the Nazi poet Will Vesper and friend of Gudrun Ensslin. Ensslin later met Andreas Baader and went underground. In the film, the couple is named Bertram Voss and Dagmar Wegener. Although the film is narrated on several time levels it is still far from the complex structure of the book that initially had the title "Der Trip". The film begins with Dagmar′s pregnancy; six years later, Bertram kidnaps his son from a guerilla squad in Italy and travels back to Germany with him. In flashbacks, the film shows Bertram′s strict childhood under his authoritarian father and his way into a moderate rebellion. The events concerning the student revolt and the RAF terrorist group are highlighted briefly and the film stresses Bertram′s conflict with his Nazi generation parents as a major driving force, similarly as von Trotta′s did in "Die bleierne Zeit".