I thought this movie was great but there was one thing that bothered me. Wiesler was demoted but not arrested because Grubitz could not prove that Wiesler had covered things up. However, wouldn't the red thumb print on his final report be proof that he (Wiesler) had moved the typewriter? After all, the Stasi knew that the article in Der Spiegel had been written in red ink.
shareThat's a good point but that final report was submitted after everything had happened so I'm guessing he would've disposed of the typewriter even if Grubitz wanted to investigate it further - the case was confirmed as closed before that as well.
Besides, Grubitz had already decided Wiesler had something to do with anyway hence his decision to permanently demote him.
The red thumb print was easily the worst part of this great movie. There's no way that no one else would have noticed it, and it wasn't even necessary for Georg to realize what had happened - the false account of the Lenin play-writing was enough. Just a really dumb "caught him red-handed" moment.
shareThat presumes anyone ever read the final report. After the fiasco at the end of the operation, the case was a black mark on everyone involved. I think they all just wanted the case closed and forgotten. Why would they even read the report?
Intelligence services everywhere produce mountains and mountains of evidence that never gets looked at. It just gets piled up for possible future use.
Yep. I'm pretty sure that no one read that final report. There was no reason for anyone to read the report after the typewriter went missing and the case against Dreyman went south. It is also possible that Wiesler's Stasi friend read the report and chose to do nothing about the fingerprint. The friend obviously knew that Wiesler had taken the typewriter. If he really wanted to make a stink about it, he could've investigated Wiesler for betraying the Stasi, though perhaps he chose not tp do so since he was Wiesler's superior and should have known about Wiesler's wrongdoing.
The weird thing is that the fingerprint even showed up at all. Wiesler is a very careful man. It is hard to imagine that he could've left the print without noticing it, and it seems unlikely that he would leave the print on purpose; Wiesler would not want to connect himself with the disappearance of the typewriter and at the time, he has no reason to believe that Dreyman would ever see the file and know that Wiesler helped him.
I was wondering the same thing.
shareI guess you have to keep in mind that the film makers need to sell a product. You wouldn't have needed the thumb print if the average audience watches the whole movie fully concentrated and keep in mind all the important details. But as many people won't do that over a two hour movie, they may need a little help at the end because it will be unfavourable for the film makers if the audience comes out of the theatre and says "I didn't get it, I'll tell my friends not to go and watch it."
shareMaybe I've completely missed the point but I didn't think the red thumb print was tied to the typewriter. I thought maybe he had to put the thumbprint at the end of the report to confirm that it was his report. Like I said I could be completely wrong though
shareI may be wrong, but my immediate thought was that the thumbprint was from the agent pricking his finger, just like the author did the first time he opened the hiding place. Why would he have red ink otherwise?
Update, guess I was. My wife watched it last night, also enjoyed it, but took issue with my thoughts on the thumbprint. She encouraged me to rewatch the scene with the typewriter being hidden, and made sure I noticed the author placing his fingers on the red ink ribbon. I must have imagined a scene where he pricked his finger and dropped blood on a manuscript. Sorry for the misdirection.
Wow. A lot of people apparently weren't watching very closely... I actually missed the scene where the agent got red ink on his finger from the typewriter. I just knew it was from him moving the typewriter because
A) the part where the main character author (not the agent) was given the secret typewriter and warned that it only types in red ink.
B) the longer scene later on where they established what kind of secret typewriter was being used and that red ink was used to type the illegal story, the "if it were black ink, it would be easier to identify" line, etc.
C) Even on the small screen I saw the movie on it was very obviously ink and not blood that the fingerprint was made of.
In my opinion, it was definitely a flaw in the movie and much too obvious / "in the audience's face" for my taste. Give us some credit for being able to think for ourselves once in a while, lol...
I think they should have done basically the same exact thing BUT had a tiny red-inked smudge near the bottom of the page edge or something, something he sees but that would have been easy for other people to miss. That would have been perfect.
Edit: that IS interesting about the author pricking his finger when he first removed the floorboard to put the typewriter away! The red BLOOD in the movie was put in as a doppelganger to the red INK in the movie, and a lot could be read into that... either that no matter how people try, small hints are always left behind from secret doings.... or the ink being a metaphor for the blood... since writing such things was illegal and would literally mean death in this movie's time/place, the ink = blood metaphor is perfect.
The ink had to be red because it was a metaphor for the death that was coming...
Another reason to love this movie. So well done
Correlation does not imply causation, presumably not even in former East Germany.
Fanboy : a person who does not think while watching.share
Wow! I never thought about the typewriter! I thought it was blood from the woman, and so a sign that he was next to her and touched her when she died. LOL
shareThe typewriter was never found. How would they use the red thumbprint as the evidence that the guy moved the typewriter? There's no connection. Only you as the audience know this for a fact.
Also, his superior used to be friends with him back in school, and this was mentioned several times throughout the movie for this specific purpose. He only demoted him, but didn't push it any further and didn't arrest him because they still had history between each other.