Der Schwarm / The Swarm

Well, that was a waste of time. All sorts of broadcasting companies and film boards across Europe collaborated to pour money into making an 8-part series out of Frank Schätzing's wonderful book, "Der Schwarm", that was published in 2004. The book itself was a fascinating bit of science fiction that contained lots of real science, which made it believable. And scary.

The "ecological thriller" TV film series is a catastrophe. Frank Schätzing was part of the production team at the beginning, but pulled out because, as he put it in an interview with Die Zeit, "it 'pilchers' more than it 'swarms'". Rosamunde Pilcher is the British author of numerous romantic stories with happy ends. 

It starts out okay as we are getting introduced to the characters. Not brilliant, but some nice scenery and okay acting. It gets worse with every episode. They were released 3-3-2 episodes a week on German television ZDF and you asked yourself every week, did you really want to continue? We made it through the book about 20 years ago, so we will make it through the series.

The love stories are really distracting. The pseudo-scientific crap with fancy pipetting and microscopes and audio stuff and fancy computers made no sense at all, but hey, who knows what those science-y types are really doing in their labs. A few small glimpses of the grinding life in a biochemical lab are perhaps a tad realistic, but eureka discoveries don't happen like this.

The errors in the film and discontinuities are too numerous to name. I mean, on a scientific ship you don't change clothes every five minutes! And when your face gets cut with flying glass, it does not scar over in 15 minutes!

Enough said. It actually makes me angry, as the environmental dangers that we as humankind pose to the planet are REAL. I saw the shrinking glaciers with my own eyes this past summer. We have to stop misusing the resources of the planet and work towards a life that is sustainable for ALL of the people on earth. And for the creatures of the sea. 

We will probably have to suffer a second season, as the close of episode 8 was a highly improbably cliffhanger. I do not understand the critics loving this film. I found it a waste of time I could have better and more enjoyably spent cleaning out my office. And I hate cleaning.

Furia

Well, with movie theaters closed we broke down and subscribed to Netflix. We've watched all sorts of series there, or started them at least. Then the German ZDF broadcast the series Furia that can be found in their Mediathek since the beginning of November 2021. It is not for children (minimum age 16) or the faint of heart, as there is a lot of brutality in it. There is a German-language Wikipedia article on it, I suppose I will have to translate it into English now. And of course the IMDB has an entry.

It is excellent.

And scary as hell, because I find the basic premise absolutely believable. Critics have puh-puhed it, saying it was too far over the top. It would cost a lot of money to pull off a stunt like the one running through all eight episodes, but cashing in a ton of stolen cryptocurrency could, indeed, provide the funding. And I find it perfectly plausable. My knitting got all out of shape on the last three episodes, which we watched on one evening, just finishing it.

Oh, and in the last episode, they use a school that is just down the road from us. Our son attended the neighboring kindergarten that is in one ariel shot. We didn't see them filming this, although there are often crews here. It must have been done recently, as we can tell by the state of the new buildings going up behind the school. Okay, they mix a lot of scenes from downtown and Kreuzberg and Westhafen into the story, making it look like they get somewhere in 3 minutes that you can't do in under 25 in the middle of the night. But that's just us with local knowledge.

We quite enjoyed hearing the film in the original Norwegian with German subtitles. Our only complaint was that ZDF would never remember that we wanted Norwegian, only subtitles. So for every single episode I had to go into the menu and change the language to Norwegian. Hey, ZDF, guess what? There are people in Germany who LIKE to listen to films in the original language, especially if it is a niche language!

I don't want to give too much of the plot away, but it is an extremist right-wing identitäre group that is looking to destabilize Europe. And of course, it ends with a cliff-hanger, so we have hope for a season 2.

A Most Wanted Man

Philip Seymour Hoffman's last film, A Most Wanted Man, was showing in the original language at the local artsy theater, so we found an evening to go watch it.

How bizarre to be watching a movie clearly playing in Germany, with American actors speaking American English and German actors speaking English with a German accent and a Canadian actress (Rachel McAdams) speaking English with a German accent. And the film had German subtitles, that you actually needed when the characters were speaking Arabic.

What a chilling story (by John le Carré), most especially after I heard a lecture today on the German data privacy laws as they affect personal privacy rights and how the NSA and the German authorities are actually breaking German constitutional law. This film pitted at least three spy organizations against each other (Verfassungsschutz, CIA, and some third, unnamed entity), and they all are breaking personal privacy rights right and left. But of course, the long-term goal is to make the world a "safer" place, right? Take care of those pesky terrorists.... And as we now know, this is actually not fiction, but happening, all around us. We are paying for their fun & games, and strangely, with a sense of Stockholm Syndrome (as Jochen Koubeck put it in the talk this morning) are even sympathizing with the NSA & Co. listening in on all we are doing.

As WiseMan remarked after the film, if Philip Seymour Hoffman's character would have seen Robin Wright in House of Cards, he would have known that he can't trust her. Spy movies are not normally my cup of tea, but this was great, Hoffman was just such a great actor. The only boring part was the full half an hour of silly advertising and trailers for films I most certainly will not see, and that with the film not starting until 8.30 pm. Oh well, lucky me, I don't have to get up too early tomorrow.

Zwei Leben

Since the Oscar-nominated German-Norwegian film Zwei Leben (Two Lives) was only running until tomorrow, we decided to watch it this evening. WiseMan had already seen it in Norwegian/German, and as he noted later, it is a film that you can't watch twice because then the suspense is gone.

But during the film you don't know what to think. A normal, boring life is punctuated by flashbacks that include scraps of some nasty German history: Lebensborn, a project that took the offspring of Norwegian women and Nazi occupiers to German orphanages in order to increase the so-called Aryan race; and the Stasi, the East German secret service that had their fingers in everything. Seeing what the Stasi was up to then and discovering what the NSA is up to now is scary.

The story draws you in, as more and more strands of the two lives come unraveled and tangle themselves. At one point the question is raised: Is it always necessary to tell the truth? People were so much happier when they didn't know the deep, dark secrets.

A thought-provoking film, but probably not for a general, global audience.

Der Hexer

We were at the home of one of the usual suspects this evening. After some great wine and cheese (and apple butter with old Gouda on top is really, really good) and a few shorts from La Linea, we watched Albert Vohler's version of Der Hexer [WP-DE](The Mysterious Magician), adapted from a crime story by Edgar Wallace. All sorts of famous German actors and actresses are in the film.

Oh my. The women.

I suppose this was the norm for the early Sixties, but it really hurts today to see the women playing the stupid little blonde or the scheming lady. The secretaries are wagging their little rumps and have deep decolletés. 

The scenography is sweet, today we all understand how many of the scenes were made. And it is indeed amazing to see how suspense is built. We are all confused until the very end as to the identity of the Hexer.

The best bit was the code that the Hexer used to communicate with his wife – he sent her flowers, and she would count the flowers, and then she knew which telephone number to call.

Hannah Arendt

The Swedish church in Lund organizes movie nights in the movie theater across the street in order to attract young people to the church. Yesterday they watched "Hannah Arendt", and I managed to get free tickets to tag along, even though I don't really pass for 25 any more.

I was planning on seeing this film by Margarethe von Trotta anyway, so it was perfect - and shown in German, English, and Hebrew with Swedish subtitles in a very comfy, oldish theater. Ooooh, I didn't realize that Axel Milberg, my second-favorite Tatort-Kommissar (Jan Leifers is, of course, in first place) would be playing such a major role!

Hannah Arendt is a German philosopher who escaped Europe and is teaching in New York when the Eichmann Trials begin in Israel. Eichmann was kidnapped in South America and brought to Israel to be put on trial. Arendt is sent by the New Yorker to report on the trial. The film uses real footage of Eichmann and of people testifying. Eichmann is not a monster, but just a guy doing his job. A terrible job it is, getting rid of the Jews, but for him it's just a job to be done.

Arendt, who had studied with (and loved) Heidegger, spends a lot of time thinking about thinking - and about what it means to be evil. Her report for the New Yorker is not what they expected, as she portrays him as he is, just a cog in the system. And she points out that there were Jewish leaders who collaborated with the Nazis - they, too, are to blame. An uproar ensues with people who did not actually read her article threatening her and sending hate mail, calling her anti-Jewish and a whore, the precursor to today's shitstorms.

She defends herself in a brilliant lecture, losing her Jewish friend Hans Jonas, who is not able to accept her position as he is 100 % pro Zionist.

The characters of Arendt and her partner Heinrich Blücher are wonderfully played. I feel so comfortable looking at their apartment and can really feel the depth of their characters. Irritating was the constant smoking, although that may actually have been the case at that time that professors smoked in the lecture. Must have been hard on the smokers in the audience, seeing everyone up on the screen being allowed to smoke. Although they could smoke on the way over to the church for coffee and cookies and talking after the film.

I ordered two books of Arendts today, I really think I need to know more about her and her work. And the film was great - go see it, if you have a chance.

Metropolis

Since there was so much interest in the premiere of the restored version of Fritz Lang's "Metropolis", the French/German TV station arte broadcast it in parallel with the showing at the 60th Berlin Film Festival.

In 2008 an almost complete version of the film was found in an Argentine film musuem. The copy was well-worn, but they have been able to to piece it together and resequence it, as the music score has been preserved in its original length.

The Berlin Symphony orchestra played live in the Friedrichspalast for the showing, and there is some sort of public viewing at the Brandenburg Gate - in the snow. We are sitting in a warm living room, full after a nice dinner and with a nice cold glass of prosecco and are enjoying the film.

Having seen the film many times before - one can pay attention to some details: the editing, the shapes on the doors, the flow of trafic, the traffic lights that only go on while a car is driving under them, the heavy Christian symbolism, the video telephone. Many of the title boards with dialogue are well-known sayings to modern day Germans: "Es muss ein Mensch an der Machine sein", "Vater, Vater, nehmen 10 Stunden nie ein Ende?", "Der Mittler zwischen Hirn und Hände muss das Herz sein".

Some parts actually now make sense - the missing scenes are still horribly scratched, but they give reasons to Freder's actions and reactions. Of course, many of the cut scenes are what passed for sex scenes in 1927, or are extremely critical of Germany at the time. And the bit about the woman between Rotwang and Frederson was cut for the US version, because her name, Hel, sounds like, well, a four-letter word....

And in a way it's like watching the source for many a film quotation (plagiarism?). Bladerunner springs to mind. It was also hard work - being a silent film, you had to concentrate on the screen. No surfing for me during the film! The music was just wonderful - the musicians played for 2 1/2 hours without a break!

A DVD is expected out in December.

Das weisse Band

Finally got to see "Das weisse Band - eine deutsche Kindergeschichte" (The White Ribbon - a German children's story) this evening. We wanted to see it in Sweden, even drove to Lund for it, and then it was sold out!

No danger of that here, it was a Monday night. We had the usual suspects with us including TeenageGirl and ExchangeStudent. ExchangeStudent didn't understand a word, although they really didn't say much ;) TeenageGirl and I collected the impressions of the group on the ride home.

It was shadows and light; pre World War I; no music except for Wagner at the piano and two hymns, one by Paul Gerhard and one by Martin Luther; it was very slow paced; it was wicked; the children were so helpless; the children were so viscous; strict discipline ("Zucht und Ordnung"); Luther and Sutterlin handwriting; sin; poverty; small houses and many children. No solution at the end - but such is life, says TeenageGirl, wise beyond her years.

The forums are filled with speculations. I like this one best. And of course, the unspoken finger pointing: this is what caused the bestiality of the next generation, the Nazi generation.

See it!

Update: The White Ribbon won the Golden Globe for the best foreign film!

Marlene and Hitch

Today's tourist program included a visit to the German film museum at Potsdamer Platz. They have two current exhibits, one on Alfred Hitchcock and one on Loriot.

We started off with a visit to the grave of Marlene Dietrich just around the corner from us. We took the train over to Potsdamer Platz, meeting another film-crazy, non-German friend. We started up in the Hitchcock exhibition.

Wow. The precision and detail that he prepared for shooting a film was just tremendous! He only had typewriters and telegraphs for communication, but had all sorts of people involved in his productions and he planned his camera angles down to the tiniest of details.

Marlene played in a number of his films, so it was cool to see her there.

Hitch planned the sound design with just as much detail, for example, using Oscar Sala's Trautonium for producing the horrible bird sounds for "The Birds". He also used many matte paintings done in excrutiating detail for shooting many scenes that he could not otherwise do.

There was a film corner showing interview Hitchcock gave German television stations - in German, he was very accomplished at speaking German. And they had a selection of his cameo appearances in his films.

We shall have to have a Hitchcock film evening very soon!

The Germans continued to the Loriot exhibition, non-Germans just do not get Loriot, so I went right to the film history bit. The other non-German decided to give Loriot a try, but joined me in the history part within 10 minutes.

Germany had such a rich early history in movie making, but after the Third Reich used it for its propaganda it never really seems to have recovered. Oh, there's the occasional good filmmaker here and there, but I think Iceland has the same number - and far, far fewer people.

There were rooms and rooms dedicated to Marlene Dietrich: her clothes, jewellry, luggage, letters, fotos, etc. One had a bit of the feeling of being a voyeur. But the letters were fascinating to read.

By the time I hit the after-war films, I was on overload, so I just zipped through the East/West part, that will have to wait for another day, and we all met back up at "Billy Wilder's" for coffee/late lunch.

Very much worth a visit if you are in Berlin and like film!

Buddenbrooks

WiseMan felt that I have a cultural deficit since I never managed to finish reading the German classic "Buddenbrooks" by Thomas Mann. So since the movie was being shown in the little second-run cinema around the corner, we went this evening.

I had had a rough day - the semester is starting, I had meetings all day. I arrived just in time at the cinema, and settled in for a looooooong movie - 2 1/2 hours.

Armin Müller-Stahl ist just soooo perfect for the part of the patriarch of this borgeouis family. The story is about their downfall (Note: no happy end).

Apparently, last summer the film company rather closed down downtown Lübeck for the filming, carefully calculating each angle so as not to catch a glimpse of a modern building in the lens. And one shot is apparently cut together vertically from two positions, because it wasn't doable otherwise.

The costumes are wonderful, the rooms are nice, the shots of Brügge-as-Amsterdam are quaint. The sfx making the dark clouds and hail are kind of corny - they were filmed on a blue-sky day, apparently, and then the clouds were filled in, but the buildings shine in the sun which isn't there.

The movie is well worth it, but I still don't think I'll read the book through.

Mogadischu

The memories of Germany in the 70s are currently being refreshed at a very rapid rate. The Baader-Meinhof film was released, the terrorist Christian Klar is being released from prison in January after serving 26 years of 9 "life-long" sentences, and the TV-movie Mogadischu premiered on TV this evening, followed by a talk show including the co-pilot of the "Landshut" plane, one of the hostages, one of the GSG-9 men who freed the hostages and killed the hijackers, a politician and a journalist from the time.

The hijackers had kidnapped a Lufthansa plane, attempting to free the RAF prisoners in Stammheim. After 5 grueling days - and the murder of the pilot - the GSG-9 managed to enter the plane and free the hostages.

The film was very well done, very suspensful, even though you already know that there will be a more or less happy end. You began to realize how difficult the political manuverings were, and how hard this all was for the chancellor, Helmut Schmidt.

The co-pilot of the plane has sent the medal he received from the German government back in protest of the release of Christian Klar. And he made it very clear that he is a proponent of the death penalty.

A difficult situation all around. And one that moves me, as I came to Germany just as this whole thing was in full swing. I didn't not understand much of what went on at the time, so it is indeed interesting to learn more about that time, looking back through a 30-year filter.

The terrorists are different now, but also strangely the same in some aspects. Will there ever be a solution?