The Germans are (not yet) coming - directors perspective.

tipota said:
Oooops .... interesting choice. Had to read up on him. Having been in my student days somewhat of a W. Reich-Fan, I agree on that choice ...

My personal Teutonesque "strangenesses" - apart from Grimmelshausen and the beloved Büchner - are those two guys

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._T._A._Hoffmann
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I've had "Der Sandmann" in the back of the my mind for a long time. For some strange reason E.T.A Hoffmann ends up in operas/ballets far more frequently than film...
The other stories that I've thought about are:

"Der Schimmelreiter" Theodor Storm
"Elsi, die seltsame Magd" Jeremias Gotthelf

Since then I tried to find out what "The Germans" really were and why - over a a longer period starting with 1525 peasant uprising - every movement for emancipation and/or democracy got shattered and drowned in pools of blood by the powers to be ....
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If I were to point to an epoch, where in what we know of as 'the German Character', I'd say The Peasant Revolt, would be it... based on my 'read' of things german. Here we see Luther break with 'authoritarian rule of Rome'... only to support authoritarian rule at home.

Then there's Pietism...

And on the other hand there's Christian Rosenkreuz...

http://www.ironsky.net/
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Now on my list of 'must see'... reminds me of "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow"(2004).
 
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Postmaster said:
Reich would be worth a Film IMHO.
Very interesting character.

Frank
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For a man who escaped them nazzies... only to die in prison because of the US FDA... can we spell Irony...


John Harvey Kellogg listed enemas as the cure all... yet we still eat cornflakes today... well... some of us...
 
j1clark@ucsd.edu said:
I've had "Der Sandmann" in the back of the my mind for a long time. For some strange reason E.T.A Hoffmann ends up in operas/ballets far more frequently than film...
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Gotthelf I'd need to re-read .... "Die schwarze Spinne" gave me real nightmares as a juvenile and I refused to read another thing from him after that.... ETA Hofmann would be a logical choice for movies, I'd think. His mix of genre, slightly spooky, surreal and very funny at times.

Peasant revolution - the great and bloody irony of German history. Would they have succeeded, Germany would have had a real chance to become the first modern democracy in Europe. And what a nice flag the Germans probably would have had: the rainbow flag. Good set of negative characters too: Martin Luther the great traitor to his own principles, the ideological poodle to the now protestant new elites and a raving, fuming, maddening anti-semite ... and Germany's Pol Pot, the Truchsess zu Waldburg who tortured, maimed, burned, killed tens of thousands ... early "Einsatzgruppen"....

And about "search for identity": I find it healthy in a way to constantly search your own or your cultural and national identity ... and not just take it for granted. As often Germans over-do it a bit here but that's the inheritance of the Nazi-era...

Iron Sky? I will watch it - but it seems to be very, very cranky.... maybe that's good, maybe not...
 
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Postmaster said:
Very interesting character.
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You can say that twice.... the question would be: What genre are we talking about? Political drama or cultural satire or "The Cranking of a Once Beautiful Mind"? Strange man. Read next to all of his books. A man hunted by Hitler, by Stalin, by the Psychoanalytic Society ... by his own ghosts ... and then by the FBI ...
 
I vote for "The Cranking of a Once Beautiful Mind"

And there you got the synopsis: " A man hunted by Hitler, by Stalin, by the Psychoanalytic Society ... by his own ghosts ... and then by the FBI ..."

If in the right hands, that could be a great film.

Frank
 
Dr Cosmo said:
Because during my upbringing I always felt the Germans were unsure about their culture and identity.
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I guess they have been unsure about that a long time in their history...... which was one of the problems of Europe to have this huge mass of slightly "undefined" people sitting in their midst until the two big definers came their way ... the Prussians (which a lot of Germans did not like then - and some till now) and then guy from Austria which too many did like .... okay: next chapter opened. Back to movies, film, video and else...
 
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Postmaster said:
I vote for "The Cranking of a Once Beautiful Mind"
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Yes. Let's ask ARD or ZDF if we can make a big two-episode TV-event, leave a bit out the political and the sex-stuff maybe and introduce a love story with two women fighting for him.... Ferres & Furtwängler my guess would be... ;-)

Interesting, btw, that Lee Strassberg in the forming of his "method" referred often to Reich and his therapies...

But, indeed, in the right hands ....
 
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I live in contemporary Germany, contemporary Berlin, contemporary EUrope !

Thats what I want to see from the current generation of filmmakers. For half a century East and West Germany dealt with the past and with bizarre conotations attributed to the Germans.

I say, Berlin is one of greatest capitals in the 21st century. I say, the Germans are one of the most capable and creative people surrounded by an inspiring civilization called Europa !

These issues belong to the screen.
 
Dr Cosmo said:
I live in contemporary Germany, contemporary Berlin, contemporary EUrope !

Thats what I want to see from the current generation of filmmakers. For half a century East and West Germany dealt with the past and with bizarre conotations attributed to the Germans.

I say, Berlin is one of greatest capitals in the 21st century. I say, the Germans are one of the most capable and creative people surrounded by an inspiring civilization called Europa !

These issues belong to the screen.
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Ok... "Road to Konzville"(2016)

Über Franz Konz, http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Konz

or

'ZEGG'(2014)

Über ZEGG http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZEGG_%28community%29

If you don't want old dudes like Reich...
 
j1clark@ucsd.edu said:
I've been trying to get the Wife to schedule a trip to Berlin. The last time we were there was for Christo's "Verhüllter Reichstag" art work event, and while much of the wall was torn down, not much had been built up in the area.
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Come in October/November, I will be shooting a TV-Movie in Berlin ....... but don't try to land at BER because it has already been shut down before it even opened and will stay that way ..... ahhhh ... until ... don't know .... go through FRA to TXL by plane or take the ICE train from Frankfurt... ;-)
 
tipota said:
Come in October/November, I will be shooting a TV-Movie in Berlin ....... but don't try to land at BER because it has already been shut down before it even opened and will stay that way ..... ahhhh ... until ... don't know .... go through FRA to TXL by plane or take the ICE train from Frankfurt... ;-)
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We were actually trying to figure that out a couple of weeks ago. When we were there I think we landed at Tempelhof from Gatwich UK. Now that I'm approaching 'Rentenalter'... I'm trying to figure out if the saver pass and train is better all around... I'm pretty sure there are better deals from LAX to Frankfurt. But we had a near disaster last time we went to Europe, landed in Brussels, spent most of the time in Amsterdam, but on the day to return to Brussels, the 'direct' rail route was shut down (I think someone may have killed themselves or something...), anyway, we went to Schiphol and 'pled' (the Wife does that well...), our case, and we got standby booking with no extra fees...
 
tipota said:
C. but don't try to land at BER because it has already been shut down before it even opened and will stay that way ..... ahhhh ... until ... don't know ....
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LOL, Wouldn't it be cheaper to move Berlin close to a already working airport?

:) Frank

By the way, I'm shooting some interviews next week in Berlin.
 
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