Jörg Ratgeb, Painter (Jörg Ratgeb, Maler)

1978, color, 100 min., Feature
Director: Bernhard Stefan
Script: Manfred Freitag, Joachim Nestler
Camera: Otto Hanisch
Music: Andrzej Korzynski
Cast: Alois Svehlik, Margit Tenner, Olgierd Lucaszewicz, Günter Naumann, Malgorzata Braunek, Henry Hübchen, Martin Trettau, Rolf Hoppe.
35mm, English subtitles: rental information

Synopsis:

On the eve of the Peasants' War, painter Jörg Ratgeb is in search of a Christ figure. He can't find anyone who can fulfill this longing. Cast into self-doubt, he leaves his wife and children in pursuit of the path of his role model, Albrecht Dürer.  Until now, he has kept out of political struggles and away from the Union, who wanted him to paint their flag.  Yet his experiences on the journey eventually drag him into the political struggle. He sees how the mute Barbara, who had saved his life, is killed by a bishop. A swain, who was his Christ Figure, became executioner and then got hanged himself. A juggler had to pay for the delivery of truth with his own life. Now Ratgeb paints how he really sees things. With his denial of all authority, he becomes the leader of the insurrectionists and is executed in 1526 by being torn apart by four horses.