Fatherland ** (1986, Gerulf Pannach, Fabienne Babe, Sigfrit Steiner) – Classic Movie Review 13,469

Ken Loach’s forgotten and unloved 1986 political drama film Fatherland stars Gerulf Pannach, Fabienne Babe, Sigfrit Steiner and Cristine Rose. It is written by Trevor Griffiths and shot by Chris Menges.

Director Ken Loach’s forgotten and unloved 1986 political drama film Fatherland stars Gerulf Pannach, Fabienne Babe, Sigfrit Steiner, Cristine Rose, Robert Dietl, and Heike Schrotter. It is written by Trevor Griffiths and shot by Chris Menges.

Ken Loach’s film is a slow-moving look at an East German protest singer-songwriter (Gerulf Pannach), who heads off to West Berlin and a different kind of censorship.

The film, in two distinct parts, attacks Western capitalism and its oppressive hold on talent in the first half, while the second concerns the efforts of Pannach to find his estranged father (Sigfrit Steiner), last seen in England.

Fatherland is an intelligent but moribund film, with few thrills and a distinct lack of energy and subtlety. All the performances are top notch, and there is plenty of interest, but it is hard to get involved in the convoluted storyline or even the characters.

It was released as Singing the Blues in Red in the US.

It was partly financed by the German TV public-service broadcasting company ZDF, and the film is partly in German.

Loach recalled that he ‘made a mess’ of the film. The scene in which Gerulf Pannach attacks a Christian Democrat politician for his fascist past was cut, prompting Loach to say: ‘It was ironic that they should cut the only decent scene in the film.’

It was released on DVD in 2013 after years of obscurity.

Loach came back strongly with his next film Hidden Agenda (1990).

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,469

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