Five years in the making, Heimat is one of the most compelling and highly praised dramas in television history. This epic tale of a family and their rural life in a small German village is told against the changing backdrop of a country's turbulent history from 1919 to 1982. From the aftermath of the First World War, through economic hardship, the rise and fall of Nazism, the Second World War and the decades that followed, life in the village goes on and the values and aspirations of the people at its heart are wonderfully brought to life in this gripping saga of an ordinary family living through extraordinary times.
Edgar Reitz's astonishing 15-hour masterpiece appeared in 6th place when BBC2 ran a 40th birthday poll celebrating the station's greatest programmes and was 10th in Channel 4's '50 Greatest TV Dramas'. It has captivated audiences all over the world and will continue to be hailed as one of television's most rewarding and unforgettable experiences.
Following the failure of Der Schneider von Ulm (1978), Edgar Reitz retired to the island of Sylt to consider his career options. He was $70,000 in debt, owed the taxma... more >
Following the failure of Der Schneider von Ulm (1978), Edgar Reitz retired to the island of Sylt to consider his career options. He was $70,000 in debt, owed the taxman another $17,000 and his critical reputation was in tatters. Over Christmas, he saw the US mini-series Holocaust on television and his despondancy grew at not just its melodramatisisation of tragic events, but also the positive response bestowed upon it by the media.
Reitz was offended to `see German history reduced to the level of fiction in an American film studio'. But he was even more appalled to witness the nation's crocodile-tears and `how the question of guilt in German history was being discussed up and down the line by the great German intellectuals on the basis of this travesty'.
So he began working on a film to correct these false impressions and the result was the 924-minute feature, Heimat. Armed with a 2000-page screenplay, he returned to his childhood home in the Hunsrück and spent 18 months putting 140 actors and 3863 extras through their paces to assess the impact of national history on a single family and their neighbours between the end of the Great War and the mid-1950s.
Although it provoked some angry domestic responses for its perceived glossing over of the crimes committed in the nation's name throughout this half century, Heimat was lauded by international critics and became a must-see series on German television. Yet, surprisingly none of its principals went on to cinematic stardom, even though Marita Breuer excels as the outsider who becomes the central focus of family life after she's abandoned by her wanderlustful husband. However, it restored Reitz's standing and enabled him to complete a pair of sequels, the second of which is due to be unveiled later this year.
In order to appreciate fully the stunning achievement of Heimat, one needs to know a little about the German Heimat-film genre. The Heimat, which is very loosely trans... more >
In order to appreciate fully the stunning achievement of Heimat, one needs to know a little about the German Heimat-film genre. The Heimat, which is very loosely translated as “homeland”, conjures up many different feelings in the German soul, exerting a quasi-maternal pull on its inhabitants even when they try to leave the birth village. The Heimat is traditionally in the countryside, and is often a rural idyll where one returns to find one’s roots.
In the 1930s the NAZIs exploited the Heimat genre to whip up patriotic fervour, and to engender racism (at that time, of course, Jews had no Heimat equivalent). In Heimat films, heroes would leave for a foreign land (nearly always America), but on arrival would realise their grave error and return to the rustic utopia whence they came. During the 1950s, when Germans were feeling very insecure after the shock of losing the war, Heimat films showed a colourful Germany with abundant food, drink and happiness for all its man y inhabitants. This was, of course, a sharp contrast to the grim conditions postwar Germans were experiencing, and the 1950s Heimat films acted as an escape to an ideal reality. In the 1970s, brilliant young filmmakers such as Fassbinder and Schlöndorff attacked these unreal images of the Heimat with their films Katzelmacher and The Sudden Wealth of the Poor People of Kombach respectively.
The Heimat genre then remained dormant until the American mini-series Holocaust was shown on German television. The incredible reaction this broadcast provoked was unprecedented – the (admittedly sentimental and highly manipulative) film horrified a new generation of Germans into confronting their history (known in German as Vergangenheitsbewältigung). Edgar Reitz, angered by the glib sentiments expressed in the series, decided to make his 15-hour series Heimat.
Reitz aimed to tell a “people’s history of Germany”, and concentrating on the fictional town of Schabbach, the film follows the life of Maria, beautifully played by Marita Breuer from her teenage years up to her eighties. She falls in love with a young man, Paul, who immediately leaves the Heimat in search of wealth. The town survives the two wars, and undergoes a wave of change after the Second World War, whereupon Paul returns to the village.
Heimat is an extraordinary work that shows affection towards earlier Heimat films even as it subverts their values. Much of the work is in black and white, but occasionally a scene is shot with a glare of vibrant colour to emphasise the warm feelings generated by the Heimat. The village folk are depicted as fully-fledged characters who enjoy their way of life, rather than the bucolic clichés that permeate earlier films. Even as Reitz reveres the traditional Heimat way of life, however, he expertly depicts the thrill of the New, as modern technology begins to enter the village, much to the chagrin of the luddite village elders, who fea r their way of life is being threatened.
In spite of its massive length, Heimat never fails to entertain, even during its more potentially melodramatic moments (the deaths of many of the characters at certain points in the narrative are moving without ever being mawkish). The ambition of the film is truly astonishing – few serials have succeeded in depicting such an epic saga so seamlessly, and few countries have endured the upheavals that Germany has in the twentieth century, yet the historical events are depicted very effectively (although Reitz chooses not to focus on the Holocaust, claiming, perhaps justifiably, that he would need an even longer film if he were to come close to doing such an event justice). The acting of the film is almost flawless, as is Gernot Roll’s evocative cinematography.
Do not be put off by the film’s massive length – the film is worth each and every one of the 924 minutes it takes of your time, and it remains a landmark in European television history.
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"Outstanding Cinema" -
Malcolm James on 13th July 2010
Having spent many years living in West Germany in the 60s I can probably appreciate and understand this picture more. It is a valuable piece of history which is excell... more >
Having spent many years living in West Germany in the 60s I can probably appreciate and understand this picture more. It is a valuable piece of history which is excellent for any srudent learning this period of history. From the very early opening of part one until the final reel you could pretend that you were part of this family. With its great cast, photography,music, location shots, it is a must see for German cinema at its best. < less
