GESCHICHTSUNTERRICHT

A young man roams the alleys of Rome, proceeds on his way to the mountains in the North and further on to the sea, as he searches for evidence and suspects in the same manner previously displayed by private detective Humphrey Bogart. Along the way he encounters Roman poets and politicians, bankers and farmers of antiquity. The film deals with the subjects of slavery and bribery, corrupt senators and the exploitation of the provinces. Today we would call that global research. Bert Brecht called it \"The Private Life of Mister Julius Caesar\". And the Straubs simply call it \"History Lessons\". The film is also a marvelous document of early 1970s Rome: where a blacksmith had his workshop in the Trastevere quarter, now stands a stylish Internet terminal.