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Knife in the Head

Play trailer Poster for Knife in the Head 1978 1h 48m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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86% Tomatometer 7 Reviews 100% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
Hoffman (Bruno Ganz) is searching for his wife (Angela Winkler) at the youth center where she works. When a police raid turns into an armed struggle with revolutionaries, Hoffman is caught in the crossfire, and shot in the head. Once a promising bio-geneticist, Hoffman is now unable to move and barely able to remember the incident. While terrorists claim him as a hero, police frame him to justify shooting him. Hoffman must painstakingly piece together his memory to discover what really happened.
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Knife in the Head

Critics Reviews

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Jay Scott Globe and Mail Aug 16, 2022
Knife in the head shatters commercial crockery... it allows for realistic fear. Go to Full Review Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times Oct 23, 2004
3/4
Knife in the Head isn't a straightforward leftist political tract; it's much more subtle than that, and if it has a position, it's closer to despair than to radical reform. Go to Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy Dec 5, 2022
3/4
The film’s low-key approach only enhances the chill factor. Go to Full Review Michael Lasky Bay Area Reporter May 4, 2020
Bruno Ganz as Bertolt Hoffmann, our hero, is staggering in a performance frightening in its realism. Go to Full Review Jesús Fernández Santos El Pais (Spain) Aug 12, 2019
The story feels too distant, if not ambiguous. The ending is too theatrical, which seems to be the common vice of the new German cinema. [Full Review in Spanish] Go to Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Jun 5, 2010
B
It starts out as a political thriller, but turns ugly into a psychodrama. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Alain E @AlainE Nov 27, 2025 This is a fantastic political and psychological thriller shot in Germany in 1978 at the time that there was a struggle between the state and extreme anarchocommunist militants like the Baader-Meinhoff group. Bruno Ganz gives a superb performance as the person who survives with severe brain damage from a bullet in the head (not a knife) and is trying to reconfigure his life afterwards. The film I believe is accurate in that the response of the state was violent as well. The movie introduces a very clever element having Ganz’s character in the final scene confronting with a firearm the policeman who framed him and not offering a final resolution. Very good color cinematography and music by the founder of the electronic group Can. A medical observation: in the beginning the hero undergoes brain surgery to treat his trauma. In the OR he appears to be ventilated through a tracheostomy. Subsequently, there is no wound in his neck. See more Nov 19, 2018 Saw this in probably 78 or 79 at an arthouse cinema in Toronto, remember it being excellent, See more Oct 9, 2007 Brilliant psychological thriller with ambient music by Tangerine Dream. I haven't seen this in years, still not on DVD, but would love to see it again. See more Read all reviews
Knife in the Head

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Cast & Crew

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Reinhard Hauff

Director

Bruno Ganz

Hoffmann

Angela Winkler

Ann

Hans Christian Blech

Anleitner

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Knife in the Head

Knife in the Head (1978) Knife in the Head (1978) Knife in the Head (1978) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Hoffman (Bruno Ganz) is searching for his wife (Angela Winkler) at the youth center where she works. When a police raid turns into an armed struggle with revolutionaries, Hoffman is caught in the crossfire, and shot in the head. Once a promising bio-geneticist, Hoffman is now unable to move and barely able to remember the incident. While terrorists claim him as a hero, police frame him to justify shooting him. Hoffman must painstakingly piece together his memory to discover what really happened.
Director
Reinhard Hauff
Genre
Drama
Original Language
German
Runtime
1h 48m
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