Banklady (4 Stars)

This is the true story of Gisela Werler. In 1965 she became famous as Germany's first ever female bank robber. The press called her the Banklady, and although she was a criminal she was admired by many women.

Gisela was born on 18th August 1934 in Hamburg. At the age of 30 she was still single and living with her parents. Her wages from menial labour in a wallpaper factory had to feed her family. She had a boyfriend called Uwe, a foreman in the factory, but it was out of desperation. He was socially awkward, and she didn't like him very much, but she thought he was the best man she could get. From the beginning of the film we see her inferiority complex. She looks at the photos of women in magazines, and she feels miserable because she can never be like them.

On 29th July 1965 she followed Uwe and witnessed him attempting to rob a bank with an accomplice. Uwe was scared and was afraid to go through with it, so the robbery was called off. Gisela despised Uwe for being weak. She approached the accomplice, Hermann Wittorf, and said that she could do it better. Hermann gave her a gun. She robbed the bank and stole 3100 DM. This wasn't a very large amount, but it made the front page of the newspapers. A woman bank robber! Shocking!

What was more important, the newspapers described Gisela as a beautiful woman with long legs and high heels. This made her accept herself as a woman. She was determined to rob more banks. It wasn't even true about the high heels, she'd been wearing flat shoes, but the false reports encouraged her to wear high heeled shoes in her following robberies.

In most cases Gisela robbed banks alone while Hermann waited outside in the getaway car. He only entered the bank if he thought Gisela was having problems. The first robbery was a risk, because it was spontaneous. Gisela only covered her head with a headscarf. For the following robberies she wore a blond wig.

In the 1960's it wasn't as easy to take photos as today, and banks didn't have security cameras, so there were no photos of the notorious Banklady, just sketches in the newspaper. As mentioned above, she was idolised as a figure of female empowerment. Women began to dress like the Banklady: blond wig, sunglasses, headscarf. Gisela was proud to have become a fashion icon, but it made the police's work more difficult having Banklady clones on the street.

This front page of a Hamburg newspaper suggests that the Banklady imitators also robbed banks, but that's just an exaggeration. (Click on the image to enlarge it). I thought it might be a genuine newspaper from 1967, but then I read the article on the right.

Even if you can't read German, you can see that the text at the bottom of the two columns, starting with "Doch das Benutzen gefälschter Kennzeichen", is repeated. That's sloppy.

In an ironic scene, Gisela goes to a fancy dress party at her factory dressed as the Banklady, complete with a toy gun to scare her colleagues. When they realise they're not in danger, her outfit is considered the best at the party.

After 19 successful bank robberies, Gisela and Hermann were finally arrested on 15th December 1967. Those were two exciting years, followed by a nine-year prison sentence. After her release she reformed and never committed any crimes again. Hermann had a longer sentence, 15 years, because he had shot several people when he was arrested. He was arrested again after another bank robbery.