The chancellor who fell to his knees

The chancellor who fell to his knees. The two lives of Willy Brandt.

Warsaw, 7 December 1970. Willy Brandt kneels in front of the Memorial to the Heroes of the Ghetto uprising. The image makes front pages and television screens around the world and quickly becomes iconic. It was a symbolic gesture that earned the German chancellor not only huge respect at international level but also the Nobel Peace Prize. It was also a gesture that polarized Germany like never before and divided German society into two camps. For his supporters, Willy Brandt was a visionary, the beacon of hope for peace and reconciliation, a German Kennedy. His opponents proclaimed him a traitor to his country and launched numerous smear campaigns against both his public and private persona.
December 2010 will see the fortieth anniversary of the Kniefall von Warschau. BROADVIEW TV is marking the occasion with a 90-minute HDTV docudrama that offers an incisive glimpse behind the scenes of Brandt's Ostpolitik and a revealing insight into the contradictory personality of this German chancellor. The award-winning writers Sebastian Dehnhardt and Manfred Oldenburg focus on Brandt's personality and his struggle against domestic and foreign resistance in his fight for reconciliation and a more peaceful world.
The film includes the period of his chancellorship from 1969 till 1974. Interviews with close confidants, people who accompanied him for many years and his opponents as well, paint an intimate psychological portrait of Willy Brandt, the man and the politician.

Length	1 x 90'
Year	2010
Genre	Dokudrama
Format	16:9 HDTV
Director	Sebastian Dehnhardt, Manfred Oldenburg
Channel	ARD, MDR, ARTE, TVP, History Channel, Historia, Filmstiftung NRW, TVR, SF DRS