- Father (film)
Infobox Film
name = Father
caption = Original cinema playbill for Father
director =John Power
starring =Max von Sydow
Julia Blake
Carol Drinkwater Steve Jacobs
distributor =Fox Lorber Home Video
released =
runtime = 100 min.
rating = M (Australia)
PG-13 (US)
country = flagicon|Australia Australia
language = English"Father" is a 1990 film about a retired German immigrant living in Australia, Joe Muller (
Max von Sydow ), who is accused of being a formerNazi who committed war crimes in theSecond World War by a strange woman called Iya Zetnick (Julia Blake ). His daughter Anne Winton (Carol Drinkwater ) is not sure who to believe.The film was directed by
John Power , written byTony Cavanaugh andGraham Hartley and produced byBarron Entertainment andFilm Victoria . The 1990 AFI awardsMax von Sydow won the 'Best Actor in a Lead Role' category, andJulia Blake won the 'Best Actress in a Supporting Role'.Plot
The film starts showing an open pit full of shot naked bodies somewhere in
Lithuania around the time of theSecond World War . A young Iya Zetnick crawls out of the body in tears, apparently having survived a massacre.Decades later in modern day
Melbourne we are introduced to Joe Muller and his affable family. His adult daughter Anne lives with him, and one day she receives a phone call from Iya Zetnick, asking her to ensure she watches a television current affairs show coming up. Joe thinks it concerns a trivial matter about his business, but he and his family are shocked when the show instead links him to the massacre of Iya's family inLithuania .Joe suddenly becomes the centre of attention. His family sticks by him, but some seeds of doubt are shown. Eventually he is arrested and sent to trial, but is not found guilty on account of insufficient
evidence . Still, Anne is now increasingly concerned about her father's past, and confronts him.Iya breaks into their house, armed with a
pistol . She confronts Anne and her father, and when she is capable of shooting Joe, she shoots herself instead. Anne is left in no doubt about her father's crimes, and Joe is left estranged from his family.External links
* [http://colsearch.nfsa.afc.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=yes;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=Number%3A57142;querytype=;rec=0;resCount=10 Father at the National Film and Sound Archive]
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