Taking Sides

Taking Sides is set in Berlin in the period right after the Second World War, as the Allied occupation authorities carry out the de-Nazification of Germany. The American officer Steve Arnold is assigned the case of Wilhelm Furtwängler, the celebrated conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic under the Nazi regime, and is expected to build a case against him. Arnold questions Furtwängler and a series of witnesses, while a German-Jewish officer on his staff and a young secretary observe the interrogations. The conductor insists that art and politics belong to separate spheres, that he never joined the party, and that he kept persecuted Jewish musicians in his orchestra; his interrogator remains unconvinced. The film turns on this clash between the two men.

The picture was directed by István Szabó, its screenplay written by Ronald Harwood and produced by Yves Pasquier. It came after Szabó's Sunshine and before Being Julia. Harvey Keitel plays Arnold, Stellan Skarsgård plays Furtwängler, and Moritz Bleibtreu, R. Lee Ermey, Birgit Minichmayr and Ulrich Tukur appear in supporting parts, among a credited cast of twenty-five. With a budget of about 20 million USD, it was a co-production of Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom and France.

On IMDb the film holds a rating of 7 out of 10 from roughly 4,200 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.3 from about 50 votes. A critics' rating of 6.7 from 56 reviews places it near the audience scores.