Film Review of Changing Skins

First published in the German Studies Review (October 2004). Republished here with permission.

Andreas Dresen, dir. Changing Skins (Raus aus der Haut). ORB, 1997. DVD. DEFA Film Library, 2004. With special features, 90 minutes.

Fans of Andreas Dresen have come to expect from his films an imaginative and sensitive treatment of historical themes and contemporary issues. Changing Skins will not disappoint them. It is Dresen’s third film having to do explicitly with the GDR past. Previous such films were Silent Country (Stilles Land) and The Other Life of Mr. Krein (Das andere Leben des Herrn Kreins). It was made for television and ran in the ARD series Wild Hearts (Wilde Herzen) on September 24, 1997. Changing Skins is entertaining for its combination of political intrigue with a love triangle. It presents victims and perpetrators in the former GDR with a high degree of complexity and will therefore offer fertile material for discussion if used in an instructional setting. Further, its young protagonists deal with many of the issues that affect US college students today - first love, independence from parents, relations with teachers, decisions about the future – increasing its accessibility to a younger audience.

Set in 1977 in the former GDR, Changing Skins presents a revolution on a small scale. High school student Marcus is head over heels in love with Anna, who in turn is deeply impressed with Randy, a school dropout and member of a rock band that occasionally sings songs by the forbidden Klaus Renft Combo. Then Anna is caught with print material about the kidnapping of Hans Martin Schleyer, who was subsequently killed when the West German government refused to give in to the demands of the RAF terrorists holding him. Possession of material from the western press is forbidden, and Anna and Marcus find themselves in even deeper trouble when school director Rottmann catches Marcus in his office trying to steal the evidence in order to save Anna. The strict ideologue Rottmann determines that Anna, who wants to attend medical school, will first spend a year working in a factory and that Marcus, who wants to major in Latin American Studies, must volunteer instead to enter officer training with the military. Anna persuades Marcus that the only solution is to imitate what they have seen in the western news and kidnap Rottmann. They plan to hold him until the teachers have completed their recommendations for students who want to attend the university.

Thus, the events of the Schleyer kidnapping in West Germany find at least a partial parallel in the unfolding plot in Changing Skins. An awareness of such historical phenomena as the Schleyer kidnapping and the forbidden Klaus Renft Combo will enhance an understanding of the film. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the film is the victim-perpetrator dichotomy exploded by it. Initially a perpetrator because of his strict punishment of Anna and Marcus, Rottmann becomes a victim when he is kidnapped and again after he is released and attempts to resume his office. Anna and Marcus, initially victims, become perpetrators who are increasingly uncomfortable with their role as they learn more about their victim and he becomes more human to them.

The DVD comes with a number of valuable special features to enhance understanding of the film itself and its place in the work of Andreas Dresen. Among the background material is an essay on youth culture and terrorism and a timeline on terrorism in West Germany. An interview with Dresen, a filmography and a brief introduction to Dresen’s films round out the package nicely. This DVD issue of Changing Skins will be a valuable contribution to the study of German culture and history.

Laura McGee, Western Kentucky University and
Elin von Törne, Free University Berlin