Spider’s Web 1989

The film centers on young right-wing Leutnant Theodor Lohse [Ulrich Mühe], who endures personal and national humiliation during the downfall of the German Empire and the German Revolution of 1918, the aftermath of World War I. From that moment he vows revenge on those he blames for the upheaval: Democrats, socialists, and Jews, and he drifts into the right-wing underground of the early Weimar Republic. He joins an organization called S II (a nod to real-world political violence) where his immediate superior is Baron von Rastchuk [Armin Mueller-Stahl]. This baron introduces Lohse to Prince Heinrich in order to get Lohse employed, a favor the homosexual prince demands as a one-time bodily obligation from Lohse. Despite his initial shock and disgust, Lohse yields to the prince’s demand out of opportunism and a wish to please his superiors.

Lohse becomes a full-time spy for the organization, moving with unprecedented, relentless ambition and unscrupulousness. He spies on Communist plots, partakes in the organization’s plans to undermine the new German democracy, and disposes of his own right-wing colleagues when it serves his ascent within the movement. Along the way he meets Benjamin Lenz [Klaus Maria Brandauer], a Jewish man who trades in information about criminal and underground political dealings, selling to anyone who will pay—left, right, or police. Although Lohse harbors deep-seated anti-Semitism, he finds Lenz’s services useful, yet Lenz’s knowledge grows, and he gradually gains leverage over Lohse’s schemes.

When Lenz learns that Lohse ordered a pogrom against the local Jewish ghetto, he confronts Lohse in private, beating him close to unconsciousness and nearly forcing him to jump from a window to evade punishment. In the end, Lenz is murdered by Lohse’s henchmen, pushed in front of an oncoming train, because he knew too much. The film closes in late 1923 with Lohse leaving a festivity of conservatives and monarchists, and, with glowing eyes, declaring that restoring the monarchy has become “old hat,” while hinting at a looming threat led by a “new man” preparing a putsch in Munich to count on — a man named Adolf Hitler.

old hat

“new man” preparing a putsch in Munich to count on — a man named Adolf Hitler.