Taking Sides

Taking Sides, first seen in 1995 deals with an investigation into the great conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler, who remained conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic during the Third Reich. Furtwangler, played by Michael Pennington, was prized by Hitler and became the cultural jewel in his crown. After the war he became the target for vigorous interrogation by the crude, apparently uncultured Major Steve Arnold, who had witnessed the horrors of Belsen.

Michael Pennington's career has spanned over forty years, during which he has played a wide variety of leading roles for the RSC, the National Theatre and the English Shakespeare Company, which he co-founded in 1986 and which toured the world three times.Â

Ronald Harwood's many plays include The Dresser, Taking Sides, Quartet, Mahler's Conversion, An English Tragedy and Collaboration. His films include The Dresser (Academy Award Nomination for Best Screenplay), Taking Sides (XXIX Flaiano Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay), The Pianist (Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, Palme d'Or, 2002 Cannes Film Festival and 2003 BAFTA for Best Film), Being Julia, Oliver Twist, and most recently The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (winner of the 2008 BAFTA for Best Adapted Screenplay, Academy Award Nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay and Humanitas Prize 2008, Writers' Guild Award for Best Screenplay, Prix Jacques Prevert du Scenario 2008), and Love in the Time of Cholera.In 1999, he was appointed a CBE.