by Federico Greco and
Mazzino Montinari

Sass is based on the story of two bank-robber brothers (and their molls) who lived and “worked” in Berlin just as the Nazi party was consolidating its power-base. Rola’s Berlin is reminiscent of Al Capone’s Chicago: a free-for-all where power equalled money, and money meant violence. A place where life and death walked hand-in-hand. From a certain point of view, it could be said that the brothers Sass were the last heroes prior to the Fall.

Mr Rola, could you tell us how you decided to make a gangster movie that is set during Hitler’s ascent to power?
“The screenplay is the result of conversations I had with my father. He worked in a club whose regulars included the Sass brothers. The gangsters were famous in Berlin because they pulled off the most difficult jobs and their adventures became the stuff of urban legends. Everything you see in my film really happened, except for a couple of scenes I invented to keep the storyline going. Based on my father’s stories, I wanted to portray a latter-day Berlin: a vibrant city that was filled with artists and many, many foreigners. A place where everyone had the right to citizenship, unlike today.”

Your film is reminiscent of many American noirs. Were they also a source of inspiration to you?
“I heard that this film was compared to the work of Sergio Leone and Brian De Palma. Although I am greatly honoured by this, I feel it is nevertheless, an exaggeration. The truth is that I never went out of my way to imitate these master-filmmakers, not least because my film cost just Euros6million. In the 1930s I don’t think there was much of a difference between what happened in my city, Berlin, and New York or Chicago – so comparisons are quickly drawn.”

How did you rebuild 1930s Berlin ?
“It was inevitable that I would have to resort to special effects to reconstruct the architecture of that period. I also did some filming in Paris. Venice, however, was created by a computer. It is sad and scandalous that so many historic buildings have been pulled down to make room for much uglier ones. It’s a sign of our decline”.

If the Berlin you portray in Sass was such an open and welcoming city and then catastrophe struck, would you agree that there is always the danger that this might happen again?
“Poverty and unemployment, violence and political neglect can result in similar disasters happening at any time. Nazism was generated by a special set of conditions but it would be out of place to say it could never happen again. We must never drop our guard. However, I must say that we are totally free in Germany to talk about our history. I really wanted to get this film done before the fall of the Berlin Wall but I didn’t manage it. Luckily, things seem to have improved in a relatively short time.”