Copyright Orion Pictures (USA)
Oberst Redl is the product of acclaimed Hungarian director Istvan Szabo; it was released in 1985, in the last decade of Communism in Hungary, and represents a complex, sympathetic handling of a subject matter that must have been heavily biased in Cold War Eastern Europe at the time. The film tells the tale of Albert Redl, an officer in the army of Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I. The character of Redl is layered, anachronistic in his own time, and at times unlikable, but he represents the empire itself: a contradiction holding on for dear life in a time when it/he must be irrelevant, or at the very least, outdated. Coincidentally, I happened to be reading AJP Taylor's The Habsburg Monarchy at the time that I viewed this film and the themes reinforced in the history (first published in Britain in 1948) are eerily similar to the palpable messages of the film: after 1867, Austria-Hungary was the army, as the only strand holding the heterogeneous peoples together were the facts that the individual estates happened to be ruled by the same person (Franz Joseph I) and that there was an army to demand obedience on the part of the subjects. Oberst Redl stars Austrian heavyweight Klaus Maria Brandauer, Germans Jan Niklas and Gudrun Landgrebe, and others. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 1985.
A young Redl spends the holidays with the Kubinyis.
Redl's life begins in a peasant village in Galicia (most of which is now Poland). Redl is a Ruthene (a Little Russian or Ukrainian) and he may be of Jewish origin; he spends much of his life running away from his peasant origins, at times claiming to be of noble Magyar descent on his mother's side, in order to be seen as an equal to his aristocratic associates in the harsh social order of the time. Youthful talent combined with luck contrive to find Redl a place at an important military school, where he meets Baron Kristof von Kibunyi, whom he admires for his aristocratic connections and handsome looks. Their relationship goes beyond friendship as Redl harbors an unrequited love for his comrade. As a Hungarian, Kibunyi regards the Habsburgs with suspicion, as he understands that the dynasty is essentially self-interested and that it must inherently be opposed to the true self-actualization of its peoples. A native of Galicia, Redl is fiercely patriotic and the viewer repeatedly witnesses evidence of his reverence for Emperor-King Franz Joseph I. This handling is nearly identical to the characterization of Galicians (Poles) in Taylor's history: the poorest area of the Habsburg Monarchy, the Galicians would rather be a part of a significant empire (i.e. Austria-Hungary) than the backwater, which geography had cursed them to, but they would bide their time and ally loyally with the Emperor until the time should come that a unified Poland could be reestablished.
Redl great secret, and the eventual cause of his downfall, is his attraction to men.
In essence, Redl represents the Empire: he is of heterogeneous origins (being a German-speaking Ruthene or possible Jew living in what was once Poland) and he clings to an old, militaristic past to resist the harsh realities of the present. It is stated in the film that the Habsburg Empire was the army and Redl represents the military establishment, not least of all the ability of a common person to rise to prominence through the benefices of patronage combined with native talent. The insincerity of this ideal (of the military as the great equalizer) becomes evident in the film through hints that Redl is despised by many of his comrades because of his possible Jewish origins, implying that a nation based on essentially outdated principles (of aristocratic privilege) could not be the forward-thinking Empire that men like Redl thought it was, or wanted it to be. Redl's fierce loyalty to the throne must eventually go unrewarded by an establishment based on historical principles of royal/noble privilege, and reinforced by pragmatic concerns of increasing nationalism among the constituent races of the Empire.
Redl with Kathalin Kubinyi.
The reality is: Redl, a product of the artificial states (like Austria-Hungary and Russia) of the time, has no choice but to invest his talent and labor in a monarchy that treats Jews benignly. The end of the 19th century was characterized by the rise of a very middle class nationalism, based upon historical beliefs about race and ethnicity and, before the creation of Israel, someone like Redl would likely become persona non grata in whichever state might succeed the monarchy in which he lived. This truth is understood by the military superiors that patronize him, and they eventually reward Redl (and make convenient use of him) by placing him at the head of an intelligence gathering unit. This promotion makes perfect sense as someone like Redl (of possibly the least important ethnic groups in the Empire: Ruthenes and Jews) is almost above the partisan, nationalist sentiments of the era.
Redl with his friend Baron von Kubinyi.
Redl is a complex character. He would likely be classified today as "homosexual", although all of his sexual encounters in the film are with women and he has no difficulty engaging intimately with members of the fairer sex. His inability to act out his love for Kristof von Kibunyi translates into a lifelong love affair with Kibunyi's beautiful sister Katalin. In order to stem the tide of rumors that he is homosexual, as he is unmarried, Redl eventually marries a beautiful young woman that he does not love. His professional life is no less complicated. Redl not only spies for the monarchy, but uses the result of his intelligence to generate support for the imperial throne and "angst" among the army against the threat of a foreign invasion and insider treason. Redl is forced to acknowledge how little he is valued by the establishment when he is told to find a ""doppelganger of [himself]" to accuse of treason so that the important groups within the Empire (Austrians, Hungarians, Serbs, Croats, Czechs, etc.) do not take umbrage at a public trial directed against one of their own. Redl, the character, is reduced to an automaton, acting only as the agent for those that do not truly respect him; he plays the only role that he can play in a state as class and nationality conscious as that in which he originates. This message is relevant as social class remains important today, although, in America at least, it is obscured by the occasional, but highly-emphasized example of individuals who manage to achieve wealth and prominence through hard work, and hidden by the ability of the super-rich in America to blend in with the rest of us. Tangents aside, Oberst Redl is a remarkable film and it speaks well of Hungarian filmmaking and the intellectual transition away from communism, at least in my humble opinion. Redl, as an outsider brought in to the inner circle, is the perfect foil through which to demonstrate the contemptuous nature of Austria-Hungary and states like it. This film is highly recommended.
Kathalin Kubinyi knows that Albert loves Kristof.
Redl embodies the monarchy, or at least the multitudinous reasons why it must fail.
