CIRCLE OF DECEIT

The poet-novelist Nicolas Born died of cancer in 1979 at the age of 42. The motivation for writing “Die Falschung” came from his reaction to photojournalist Kai Hermann's coverage of the Civil War in Lebanon written for “Stern” magazine. Born went to Beirut to confirm the extent of the disaster for himself, anguished by the unfeeling journalistic approach to the subject in many magazines. Volker Schlondorff's “Tin Drum” won the 1980 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Through the adaptation of Born's novel “Die Falschung” (“The Forgery” or “The Falsification” in literal translation), Schlondorff expresses the novelist's abhorrence of the massacre in Beirut, compounded by the Western press' sensational, well-illustrated treatment of such tragedies. Flashbacks and a narrator unfold the story of a disillusioned journalist (Bruno Ganz) whose unstable marriage and dissatisfaction with his profession combine to “falsify” his entire existence. Assigned to cover the fighting in Lebanon in 1975, he is sickened by the slaughter and finds brief solace in the arms of Ariane (Hanna Schygulla), a German widow of an Arab. Subsequent events force the journalist into the role of attacker; still more soul-searching lies ahead. “Schlondorff lights the fires of the apocalypse most impressively.” David Denby, New York