March of Millions

*March of Millions*
March of Millions
	Die Flucht
Genre	World War II film
Written by	Gabriela Sperl
Directed by	Kai Wessel
Starring	Maria Furtwängler; Jean-Yves Berteloot; Hanns Zischler; Frédéric Vonhof;
Theme music composer	Enjott Schneider
Country of origin	Germany
Original language	German
No. of episodes	2
Production
Producers	Katrin Goetter, Nico Hofmann, Joachim Kosack, Sebastian Werninger
Running time	179 min (2 parts)
Budget	€9 million
Original release
Network	ARD
Release	4 March –; 5 March 2007

March of Millions, also titled Die Flucht (The Escape), is a German television war drama film. The film stars Maria Furtwängler in the role of Lena Gräfin von Mahlenberg, the leader of a small convoy of refugees from East Prussia (including French and Russian prisoners of war and forced labourers) fleeing the advancing Red Army in the winter of 1944–1945, and trying to survive uprooted in Bavaria in the aftermath of World War II. When first broadcast by ARD in two parts, on 4 and 5 March 2007, it drew 13.5 million viewers.^[1]

The production was reported to have cost €9m and to have employed over 2,000 extras.^[2]

The film was controversial for portraying German war-time suffering during the evacuation of East Prussia (although a number of German atrocities were also shown or mentioned), and led to adverse comments from Marek Cichocki, the foreign policy advisor to Polish President Lech Kaczyński at the time, fearful of potential German claims to lands or property in East Prussia lost after the World War II.^[3] There have been multiple reactions from the Polish side on occasion of other films about the war.

Awards[edit]

2007 Bambi award as "TV Event of the Year"
2007 Bavarian TV Award to Holly Fink (cinematographer)
2007 Romy award to Nico Hofmann (producer)
2007 Deutscher Fernsehpreis to Knut Loewe and Wiebke Kratz for Best Design
2007 Deutscher Fernsehpreis to Enjott Schneider for Best Music
2007 Deutscher Fernsehpreis to Gabriela Maria Schmeide as Best Supporting Actress

Cast[edit]

Maria Furtwängler as Magdalena von Mahlenberg
Jürgen Hentsch as Berthold von Mahlenberg
Jean-Yves Berteloot as François Beauvais
Frédéric Vonhof as Louis
Tonio Arango as Heinrich von Gernstorff
Angela Winkler as Sophie von Gernstorff
Hanns Zischler as Rüdiger von Gernstorff
Max von Thun as Ferdinand von Gernstorff
Adrian Wahlen as Benno Stuber
Adrian Goessel as Wilhelm Stuber
Gabriela Maria Schmeide as Babette
Stella Kunkat as Viktoria von Mahlenberg
Fritz Karl as Gauleiter Herrmann
Winfried Glatzeder as Dietrich (servant)
Ralf Dittrich as Major Metzger

References[edit]

^ Meza, Ed (Oct 5, 2007). "Germany Keen on Epic Productions". Variety. Retrieved 2009-11-19.
^ Paterson, Tony (5 March 2007). "German TV Breaks Taboo with Story of Refugees". The Independent. Retrieved 2009-11-19.
^ Kirschbaum, Erik (Mar 5, 2007). "Film depicting Germans as WW2 victims fires debate". Reuters. Retrieved 2009-11-19.

External links[edit]

March of Millions at IMDb

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[1] Meza, Ed (Oct 5, 2007). "Germany Keen on Epic Productions". Variety. Retrieved 2009-11-19.

[2] Paterson, Tony (5 March 2007). "German TV Breaks Taboo with Story of Refugees". The Independent. Retrieved 2009-11-19.

[3] Kirschbaum, Erik (Mar 5, 2007). "Film depicting Germans as WW2 victims fires debate". Reuters. Retrieved 2009-11-19.

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