Der subjektive Faktor
Feature Film / Ger 1980/81 / 16 mm / colour and b/w
138 min / 4:3 / mono

„What were the beginnings of the new women’s movement like?”, “What was life like in a commune?”, “What were discussions like?” The film reconstructs in 1980 events that took place between 1967 and 1970.

What would have happened if certain people had acted differently, or not at all, at given points in time; that is to say, what influence do individuals, “the subjective factor”, actually have on historical events? Do people’s individualities encourage or inhibit each other? How do their activities affect the general public? In 1980 this was a very unpopular question.

The film features a character called Anni, a woman living with her child in a commune, and through her transmits a sense of how a movement emerges, how it supplies answers to the many new questions Anni faces, and gives her the impression of a new departure before eventually disintegrating into dogma.