The powerful selling point of this absorbing film may well be how German investigative journalists ended up reporting a political scandal that ends up toppling a major European Government, but its real heart is in the underlying importance of investigative journalism within a world that prefers to suppress whistle-blowers and favours spin over responsibility.
While Journalists Bastian Obermayer and Frederik Obermaier from Germany’s largest newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitungare the ‘stars’ of Daniel Andreas Sager’s Behind the Headlines, the film seeks a balanced overview in showing how the investigative journalism community work together (despite the fact that the scribes are also in competition with each other). It dwells on the worries, pressure, drudgery and repetitiveness of the work while also stressing just how vital it can be.
It is a film very much of two halves, with the dramatic events that drive the second part (as they seek to confirm details of the scandal – or ‘Project X’ as it is called) hinted at in the first, as the journalists tackle other stories.
The opening scene sees a meeting with ex-CIA/NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in Moscow, where he compliments them on their work on the Panama Papers.
Next they are seen watching an extract of a video sent to them by a source – one they have to watch wearing special glasses – which will have a major impact on the second part of the film. The doc then sees them researching the assassination of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galicia and a mysterious arms dealer linked to the Iranian nuclear missile programme. But it’s the secret video leaked to them in 2019 that sets in motion ‘Project X’…or the ‘Ibiza-Affair’, as it subsequently becomes known.
After they receive additional footage it becomes clear that that they have a major scoop on their hands. They view hours of footage from multiple cameras from Ibiza in 2017 which show the vice chancellor of Austria’s Freedom Party Christian Strache and the deputy leader Johann Gudenus (both then in opposition) discussing their party’s intentions, with both politicians appearing receptive to proposals by a woman calling herself Alyona Makarova, who was posing as a niece of Russian billionaire Igor Makarov.
With absorbing behind-the-scenes access inside the offices of Süddeutsche Zeitung, the film follows the journalistic team, who – along with other correspondents – set about verifying the footage and content; having it analysed by experts, and sitting down with the paper’s Executive Editor Wolfgang Krach to discuss legal and ethical obligations.
At times the doc delightfully veers into All The President’s Men territory as the journalists seek to pin down facts and craft just the right tone and language for the story…cue plenty of scenes of tired looking reporters; plenty of writing on white boards; close-ups of recording devices and empty coffee mugs.
Naturally enough the film focuses on the impact of publication (done in tandem with Der Spiegel) and the resignations of Strache and Gudenus, and the subsequent collapse of their party’s government. The last word goes to Wolfgang Krach who tells his editorial team immediately after publication that he doesn’t want triumphalism. He says for the next steps: ”None of the ‘we’re so great, look what we did’, but continuing our coverage in a matter-of-fact way…we may take pride in our superb journalistic work but not in bringing about political events.”
The underlying sense of professionalism is what dominates the newsroom – despite moments of worry and self-doubt – with the film astutely offering a subtle (yet vitally important) and topical defence of free media and the rights of whistle-blowers.
Germany, 2021, 90mins
Dir Daniel Andreas Sager
Production Bauderfilm, ZDF, Das Kleine Fernsehspeil
Producer Marc Bauder
Screenplay Daniel Andreas Sager, Marc Bauder
Cinematography Borres Weiffenbach, Daniel Andreas Sager, Anne Misselwitz
Editor Hannes Bruun
Music Hannah von Hubbenet, John Gurtler
With Bastian Obermayer, Frederik Obermaier, Hannes Manzinger, Philipp Grull, Edward Snowden
