Catholic priest Kremer is released from Dachau and sent home to Luxembourg. But he soon learns that this is no reprieve- that he has nine days to convince the bishop of Luxembourg to work with the Nazi occupiers. Gestapo Gebhardt is pressured to make Kremer create a rift between the Luxembourg church and the Vatican. If he fails, he’ll have to transfer to duty in the death camps. Gebhardt, a former seminarian, uses theology to bring Kremer around, but when it fails he resorts to more draconian measures. The Ninth Day boasts some of master Schlöndorff’s best work in years, and there are few finer technicians in the medium.Born in Wiesbaden in 1939, Volker Schlöndorff moved to Paris where he formed relationships with filmmakers of the French New Wave: Louis Malle, Alain Resnais, and Jean-Pierre Melville. He soon began making films, and rose to the upper echelon of German filmmakers. He was the central force behind New German Cinema with Der junge Toerless (’66), The Lost Honor Of Katharina Blum (’75), and The Tin Drum (’79). In ’84 he went stateside for Death of a Salesman. He stayed to make The Handmaid’s Tale (’90), and returned to Germany to make the acclaimed Voyager (’91) and The Ogre (’96). –EC