This scene of the recent film, The Silent Revolution, is the confrontation between the students and the National Education Minister of the GDR. This meeting is the first step in what feels like the inevitable end of the students “counter-revolution” as the Minister states. Beginning with the principal’s rapid entrance and the quick over-the-shoulder following shot of Theo and Kurt to their seats the scene already has a sense of dread and confusion. The quick cuts and panning shots between the students’ faces and their line of sight towards the Minister and the school superintendent allow the viewer to share the students’ sense of dread given the situation. Most can relate to getting called to the principal’s office like Theo but imagine a teenager coming face to face with a national government official after acting up in class one day. The students’ mixed reactions of shock, concern and bewilderment contrasted with the stoic cold stare of the superintendent and the stern methodical grimace of the minister also add to the separation between the parties of this meeting. The whole scene is the first real consequence the students are faced with as a group and the first moment that makes it clear the government is out to make an example of them and their “revolution”.

Music in video Funeral Music by Dee Yan-Key