Just like Linklater with the "Before..."-movies Edgar Reitz, 80 years old by now, has published a new chapter to the "Heimat"-franchise every roughly 10 years. He started back in the 80s already though, so this year's edition is already the fourth entry. It's also the first that was not released as a miniseries on television, but as a single movie for the big screen. The runtime is equivalent to his miniseries-work though as it runs only for slightly less than a massive 4 hours. It depicts the trials and challenges for a German family back in the first half of the 19th century. Even if it plays roughly 75 years earlier, this film reminded me occasionally very much of Michael Haneke's Oscar nominated movie "The White Ribbon", which is set before World War I. Not only because it's black and white, but also because the overall tone is very similar and the whole ambiance is equally bleak. Well.. of course it is. Back in the 19th century people were facing severe challenges: physically hard labor all life, lethal threats like diphtheria and famines during horribly-cold winters. Also, in both films you always feel the scary presence of politics back during that time, even it was barely never really visible.
One impressive thing apart from its length is the fact that pretty much none of the actors, especially those in the central roles, have starred in films before and everybody involved delivers at least decent portrayals. I'd never have thought that before I looked at IMDb for their so far non-existent previous movie appearances. Anyway, they're all still pretty young, so this film will hopefully result in them being offered projects frequently in the future. The true standout was Antonia Bill. From her very first scene (and what a scene that was!) she commands the screen every time she's on as the main female character stuck between the protagonist and narrator of the story and his brother. I'm quite curious to see her in more films in the future. She was in some of my favorite scenes which were mostly these that depicted the positive sides of life back then and it was fun to see everybody enjoying themselves like in the dance scene without all the technical bits and pieces we have today. They just don't need it to be happy.
"Die andere Heimat - Chronik einer Sehnsucht" is a film that touches many different areas: love, death (not as much as I thought though, people were sick all film long, but hardly never did somebody die), the desire to see distant places and the hope for a better future. Admittedly I have to say I was fairly unimpressed by the first 30 minutes and I really hoped it would get better later on. It sure did and when I maybe watch it again some day, I'll probably perceive the first scenes probably not half as bad as I did in the theater. It's never kitschy, it never drags and that's an impressive achievement for a film going on for so long. As a whole it did not really have truly great scenes (the one that may come closest to that description may be the final letter scene) that had me glued to the screen, but it's still a very interesting four hours and I'd recommend it. The ending fit the film perfect as well. It was not really a happy ending for the main character, but on the other hand the strong bonds between the family members sort of made it look like one. When it was over (we watched it in 2 sessions, 2 hours each), nobody left the theater as fast as they could and most people had a face expression that looked like they just watched a pretty good movie.
To further whet your appetite, let me close my review with the notion that the film also had a VERY interesting cameo I had no idea was about to happen by somebody you all know. I won't tell you who it is, but I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I did, even if it was pretty short.
One impressive thing apart from its length is the fact that pretty much none of the actors, especially those in the central roles, have starred in films before and everybody involved delivers at least decent portrayals. I'd never have thought that before I looked at IMDb for their so far non-existent previous movie appearances. Anyway, they're all still pretty young, so this film will hopefully result in them being offered projects frequently in the future. The true standout was Antonia Bill. From her very first scene (and what a scene that was!) she commands the screen every time she's on as the main female character stuck between the protagonist and narrator of the story and his brother. I'm quite curious to see her in more films in the future. She was in some of my favorite scenes which were mostly these that depicted the positive sides of life back then and it was fun to see everybody enjoying themselves like in the dance scene without all the technical bits and pieces we have today. They just don't need it to be happy.
"Die andere Heimat - Chronik einer Sehnsucht" is a film that touches many different areas: love, death (not as much as I thought though, people were sick all film long, but hardly never did somebody die), the desire to see distant places and the hope for a better future. Admittedly I have to say I was fairly unimpressed by the first 30 minutes and I really hoped it would get better later on. It sure did and when I maybe watch it again some day, I'll probably perceive the first scenes probably not half as bad as I did in the theater. It's never kitschy, it never drags and that's an impressive achievement for a film going on for so long. As a whole it did not really have truly great scenes (the one that may come closest to that description may be the final letter scene) that had me glued to the screen, but it's still a very interesting four hours and I'd recommend it. The ending fit the film perfect as well. It was not really a happy ending for the main character, but on the other hand the strong bonds between the family members sort of made it look like one. When it was over (we watched it in 2 sessions, 2 hours each), nobody left the theater as fast as they could and most people had a face expression that looked like they just watched a pretty good movie.
To further whet your appetite, let me close my review with the notion that the film also had a VERY interesting cameo I had no idea was about to happen by somebody you all know. I won't tell you who it is, but I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I did, even if it was pretty short.