A real colonel. Such a phenomenon as intelligence has existed since ancient times. And in intelligence there were always people who were ready for one reason or another to transfer the most important information to the enemy. One of the most notorious scandals of this kind in the history of espionage was the case of Colonel Alfred Redl of the Austrian General Staff, who headed the military counterintelligence of Austria-Hungary on the eve of the First World War. As it turned out, he was recruited by Russia under threat of publicity of his homosexual relations and for a long time passed on the names of agents and military plans to St. Petersburg, and after exposure committed suicide. Many saw this story as a symbol of the moral decay of the ruling class of a dying empire that was only a few years away.
The first film about Redle was shot in the era of silent cinema, and the most famous version of his life was the drama Istvan Szabo “Colonel Redl” in 1985. Despite the beautiful performance of Klaus Maria Brandauer, there are many questions about historical authenticity. But thirty years before Szabo, his version of events was offered to the public by the Austrian director Franz Antel, who usually shot light musical comedies. In Espionage, Redl is tasked with finding a traitor who has access to the most secret documents, unaware that he is the traitor. To save his life, the colonel fabricates evidence against the young captain Hans Angelis and subsequently arrests him on charges of treason. But the truth must come out sooner or later.
Franz Antel’s film is a more accurate and detailed reflection of real events than Szabo’s painting. This is not surprising, because in 1955, when the film was made, there were still quite a few people who remembered the Austro-Hungarian Empire. From the point of view of costumes, interiors, acting for the film there are no questions. But even here we do not get a clear answer to the main question: how a man who devoted himself to the service of his country became a traitor and allowed to destroy everything he so faithfully and faithfully served.
7 out of 10