The Laughing Man (1966)

[jochen stremmel]

not so hard to find anymore: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGAUW1ZF2xI

2013/2/3 Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com>:
> User Reviews
>
> for liberté, fraternité and all that, you know these sayings...
>  17 March 2006 | by slaughtermob (Germany) – See all my reviews
>
> In this fascinating interview, east German film makers Heynowski and
> Scheumann try to reveal the true face of western imperialism in
> Africa, and the result is a propagandistic tour de force: Siegfried
> Mueller, ex-officer of the Wehrmacht, in the uniform of the Kongolese
> Army and adorned with the Cross of Iron awarded in 1945, talks about
> his involvement as a mercenary in Kongo's civil war in the 1960s. In
> the course of the film the bottle of Pernod is emptied, and the Major
> gets more revealing; practically denying his earlier statements about
> civil killings, the ethics of war and the defense of western
> libertarian values. Masterfully caricatured with pictures of him and
> comrades proudly posing with severed skulls, other Nazi officers now
> active in Afrika and incidental mentioning of American exertion of
> influence. The tag line reads "Confessions of a Murderer", and the
> directors skillfully talk the increasingly drunk Kongo-Mueller into
> his role and into the the wanted statements. I was deeply impressed by
> this movie, which gives unique insight into a neglected chapter of the
> cold war and its zeitgeist, and also its sheer suggestive power, which
> creates a ghastly image of this smiling murderer. This film was banned
> in West Germany for many years. Highly recommended, even though
> extremely hard to find.
>
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165853/