Taking Sides

This drama takes places in Berlin, occupied by the allies at the end of the Second World War. The story is based on the character of Wilhelm Furtwangler, who was the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conductor in the 1930s and focuses on the question of the place of the artist in an illegal totalitarian regime. An American officer (Harvey Keitel) is sent to investigate the great German conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler (Stellan Skarsgard) in the matter of his support for the Nazi regime. In a time when other artists were forced to leave Germany, Furtwangler chose to stay in his homeland and to continue in his chosen profession, thus becoming one of the most important cultural treasures of Nazi Germany. In an argument that erupts between the two, the American officer – who in his civilian life was an insurance claims investigator - casts doubt on the morals of the admired artist.