The Candidate (1980)
Directed by Volker Schlöndorff / Stefan Aust / Alexander Kluge
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Synopsis by Eleanor Mannikka
This informative political documentary puts together clips from newsreels, archives, and television to review the controversial career of Franz Josef Strauss who was running for Chancellor of West Germany at the time this documentary was made. Strauss founded the Christian Socialist Union and had a long political history as a parliamentarian (1949), Special Minister (1952), and by 1955 was Minister of Defense. His career began to unravel when a series of scandals hit the presses that involved him in kickbacks and abuses of power. Strauss was forced to resign his post as Defense Minister in the early 1960s when yet another scandal broke about his dictatorial handling of criticism on his military policies -- the publisher of the offending magazine was jailed, and its author arrested in another country on Strauss' orders. This documentary provides a clear history of Strauss' actions and how they were received in the media at the time.