The actress on intimidating extreme situations, lack of communication and her hope for the younger generation
She was “Pope Joan” and embodied the RAF terrorist Gudrun Ensslin in “The Baader Meinhof Complex”: Actress Johanna Wokalek (47) is primarily, but not exclusively, in demand for serious roles. In the mini-series “Liberame – After the Storm” some friends set off on a sailing trip in the Mediterranean. The carefree trip comes to an abrupt end when you encounter a completely overcrowded, unable to maneuver refugee boat. To help means to put oneself in danger. André Wesche spoke to Johanna Wokalek.
Freie Presse: Ms. Wokalek, a series like this is of course primarily good entertainment, but it is based on the bitter truths of our society. Can such added value be the decisive factor in your accepting a role?
Johanna Wokalek: Yes. I thought it was well told in the script. Of course, I spoke to the director Adolfo Kolmerer and, based on his own story, I found it very logical that he would want to tell and shoot this series with us. We live in a time when the Syrian and Ukrainian wars are raging and the fate of the refugees has become our topic. This series tries to tell about it and, in this case, to bring us closer to the anonymous number of refugees by talking about individual fates in such a way that these people get a face. That was the reason why I said: “I’m in!”.
Freie Presse: The German main characters are suddenly thrown into a very intimidating extreme situation. Could you understand that you are torn between reason, fear and conscience?
Johanna Wokalek: I could absolutely understand that. We also asked ourselves questions while shooting: How would I act? How would I behave in this situation? Ultimately, that’s the plus of the series. Again and again she confronts the viewer with these same questions. With their different attitudes, the five friends symbolize the positions that our society and Europe take on the subject – if that can be captured at all in just five figures. They show the different facets of personal attitudes in this refugee dilemma. The interesting thing about how Adolfo Kolmerer tries to tell the story is that he doesn’t approach these characters morally, but follows each individual character and shows how they behave in their personal conflict towards these events. I like that. He doesn’t judge that, he just shows it to us. He makes it come alive for us as viewers. And we are asked to act towards it.
Freie Presse: In retrospect, one of those involved spoke of having “holiday on a mass grave”. Do you also associate the deaths of tens of thousands of refugees with the Mediterranean today?
Johanna Wokalek: I think that as human beings we keep pushing that aside. This series is a part of making us aware of that again. For me, the nice thing was that I had very nice encounters with Kenda Hmeidan, who plays the young Syrian mother who lost her child. I talked to her a lot when I wasn’t filming, including about her personal history. How she and her family came from Syria, how she is now trying to gain a foothold as a Syrian actress in Germany, how she is learning German, how she is acting at the Gorki Theater, what is similar to us and what our differences are. She is a wonderful actress who trained in Damascus. Taking this time to actually meet and be curious about each other opens many doors. We are all only human and we all just want one thing, namely to hopefully live a happy life. All of these barriers and prejudices are mostly created out of fears that we need to break down. And they break down wonderfully when you meet and talk to each other. This is the basic requirement for all of us to be together: we have to talk to each other.
Free Press: One cannot lead a happy life if one shoulders all the suffering and injustices of this world every day. How do you deal with the thought of it?
Johanna Wokalek: We are currently living in very turbulent, exciting, upsetting and also oppressive times. It is therefore important and necessary that we put ourselves in the shoes of the young Syrian doctor, who has lost so much, and try to understand her fate to some extent. Hopefully this film can do that. What does this loss of home mean, the destruction of a city you love, where you grew up and the impossibility of returning to a place you would like to go back to. And the difficulty of arriving in a new language and a completely different world. You have to reinstall from scratch.
Freie Presse: The flow of international refugees will also increase significantly as a result of global warming. Could you imagine taking in refugees?
Johanna Wokalek: I can’t say that in a hurry. I could imagine it for an agreed period of time. The most important thing is that if you decide to do it, you really have to commit yourself to a long-term commitment and share responsibility. You can’t say: “But I can’t take it anymore. Now it’s all too much for me. Now gone!”. It is not easy. Even a “normal” harmonious family life is a daily challenge. You have to be clear about whether all this is resilient enough to dare to take this step.
Free Press: Politically correct language is also discussed in the series. What are your feelings about the fact that in Germany you now have to be very careful about how you express yourself so as not to fall victim to a shitstorm?
Johanna Wokalek: These are two different things. I find that this narrowing through social media has increased the danger of anonymous shitstorms with great brutality. We just talked about how the most important thing is to talk to each other. And that too in the complexity and diversity of the world. That’s the trouble of communication: that we get involved with each other. This openness to one another includes listening. But the shitstorm is not a listening reaction, it is a direct, anonymous statement. That has nothing to do with listening, because the other person isn’t actually there and can’t say: “Wait a minute, that’s a misunderstanding. I meant it like this.” There is no exchange. I think that’s terrible. For me it is anything but a form of communication.
Freie Presse: It is the young generation that is most likely to come together in the series. Do you have high hopes that today’s youth will one day do better than us?
Johanna Wokalek: Yes of course! I even have hope that reflection and awareness will return. Hopefully you will realize that direct communication is something that needs to be celebrated and that it is something very unique. It also helps them realize that absorbing their own time into the other reality isn’t really satisfying. I follow all this with great interest and talk a lot about it with younger colleagues who are involved in social media. I don’t even do it myself. But I’m interested in it, because it’s a big change in our society.
Freie Presse: Are you an optimistic person?
Johanna Wokalek: Yes. I’m just optimistic because that’s the more comfortable option. (laughs)
Free Press: Your character in “Liberame” is one of many of your characters who don’t have much to laugh about. Her foray into comedy with “Beckenrand Sheriff” was awarded the Bavarian Film Prize. Does that make you want more?
Johanna Wokalek: Yes. If it’s well written, definitely. It’s difficult and really hard work to do comedy. It was a nice experience. It always comes down to whether it’s comedy or serious – that I like the characters. But I’m far too curious to commit myself to that. I’m curious about these different experiences and I’ll definitely get back into comedy if I’m interested in the character. I like the water polo coach we invented because she’s so idiosyncratic and a little oddly funny.
Freie Presse: Why did you choose Paris as the center of your life?
Johanna Wokalek: Out of curiosity. To live in another culture.
Freie Presse: Are you actually seaworthy?
Johanna Wokalek: I am absolutely seaworthy and was grateful for that. When shooting in Malta, however, some who are regularly on ships said that seasickness could still attack you at any time. I went sailing many years ago and have never had any problems. I am seaworthy! (laughs) (aws)
The miniseriesLiberame – After the storm will be broadcast on ZDF as follows: Episode 1 (drift) Mon 8.15 p.m., Episode 2 (heavy seas) Mon 9 p.m., Episode 3 (turning point) Mon 9.45 p.m., Episode 4 (beacon) Wed 8.15 p.m., Episode 5 (Mayday) Wed 9 p.m., Episode 6 (Redeem Me) Wed 9:45 p.m. All episodes are already available in the ZDF media library.
Johanna Wokalek
A short biography of the actress.
Johanna Wokalek was born in Freiburg im Breisgau in 1975 and studied acting at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna, with Klaus Maria Brandauer among others. During her studies she made her debut as a theater and film actress. From 2000 to 2016 she was a member of the ensemble at the Vienna Burgtheater.
For the lead role Wokalek received the Bavarian Film Prize for Hans Steinbichler’s Heimatfilm “Hierankl” (2003). She became known to a large audience with the film “Barfuss” by Til Schweiger and took on important roles and leading roles in films such as “The Baader Meinhof Complex” (2008), “Pope Joan” or “German Lesson” (2019).
Also in music theater she became active: In the summer of 2014, for example, Wokalek took on the role of Charlotte Salomon in the premiere of the opera of the same name by Marc-André Dalbavie at the Salzburg Festival.
Beyond the stage and film work For several years, Johanna Wokalek has been involved in the realization of creations that try out new forms of artistic expression through the interaction between music, theatre, literature and the visual arts.
is married Johanna Wokalek since 2012 with the well-known opera conductor and director Thomas Hengelbrock. The couple has a son together and lives in Paris and Hamburg. (mq)