Allons enfants… pour l'Algérie
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Allons enfants… pour l'Algérie |
| Country of production | GDR |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1961 |
| length | 40 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Karl Gass |
| script | Karl Gass |
| production | DEFA studio for newsreels and documentaries |
| music | Jean Kurt Forest |
| camera | Hans Dumke |
| cut | Christel Hemmerling |
| occupation | |
| |
Allons enfants… pour l'Algérie ( French for Auf Kinder… for Algeria ) is a 1961 documentary by the DEFA studio for newsreels and documentaries by Karl Gass .
action
The film is subtitled: Suffering and Struggle of a Colony and consists of three chapters.
Chapter 1: The Sahara beckons
The film begins with a questionable statement: The German Evangelical Church Congress will take place in West Berlin from July 19 to 23, 1961 . The off-speaker claims to the pictures from the Olympic Stadium that visitors to the Kirchentag will also be sent to the military parade on the occasion of the French Revolution in Berlin-Tegel . It is claimed that both recordings were taken on July 14, 1961, France's national holiday , but the church convention doesn't begin until five days later. West Berliners who are recognized as members of the Foreign Legion also take part in the parade in the French headquarters .
Pictures are shown of life in the Foreign Legion and of deserters who have found refuge in the GDR . The former Foreign Legionnaires report on the atrocities committed against the Algerian population and how they were forced to do so. But the soldiers' protection of the production areas for natural raw materials in the Sahara also illustrates the economic interests of their mission. There are iron ores that can last the steel industry in France and the Federal Republic of Germany for at least 150 years, as well as hard coal and natural gas. In Ingolstadt , for example, a refinery for Algerian crude oil is planned. The German soldiers of the Foreign Legion played an important role in the French atomic bomb tests in the Algerian desert. They are used to test the effects of the bomb on the human body. By October 1960, 8,486 German members of the Foreign Legion had died in Algeria. Of course, these gaps have to be closed again and the film shows the advertising methods in Germany and France, whereby a lot of alcohol is involved. At 70 percent, the German contingent is the largest of all nations.
Chapter 2: Aicha
In Tunisia , near the border with Algeria, there is a camp for Algerian refugees. Aicha, the nurse in the Algerian army, comes three to four times a year to see if everything is going well and to help the people as far as she can, because she is not a doctor. Aicha lived in Paris for many years . During the national holiday celebrations on July 14, 1953, she and her husband took part in the demonstration. Together with many other Algerians, they are marching for a free and independent Algeria. Seven demonstrators, including Aicha's husband, are killed in the subsequent clashes with the police. She herself was arrested and spent over four years in French prisons. In 1958 she managed to escape to Algeria and joined the National Liberation Front (FLN) . The film shows her visit and excerpts from her work in one of the refugee camps, in which conditions are catastrophic.
Chapter 3: Vive l'Algérie algérienne
This part depicts the solidarity at demonstrations and events of the French people for the fighting Algeria. The images are accompanied by two songs, the text, music and vocals of which are from Fania Fénelon .
production
Allons enfants… pour l'Algérie was shown for the first time during the IVth Leipzig International Documentary and Short Film Week on November 18, 1961.
The premiere took place in the presence of numerous personalities of the party and state leadership of the GDR and high-ranking members of the Algerian National Liberation Army on January 25, 1962 in the Babylon cinema in Berlin . It was first broadcast on the DFF on February 7, 1962.
With “Allons enfants” the Marseillaise begins , the French national anthem, which addresses the revolt against violence and oppression.
criticism
Under the heading Weapons against Imperialism , Neue Zeit wrote :
“The film 'Allons enfants… pour l'Algérie' is a weapon. In order for imperialism to be fatally hit, it must be made accessible to the widest possible range. It is therefore not enough just to let it run in movie theaters; it must also be shown and discussed in state-owned companies. With this film, the workers should be called upon to go beyond their plan to create material values for Algeria in solidarity. "
The lexicon of international film called the film a remarkable document of the times.
Awards
- 1961: IV. Leipzig International Documentary and Short Film Week : Prize of the Society for Cultural Connections with Foreign Countries
Web links
- Allons enfants ... pour l'Algérie in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Allons enfants… pour l'Algérie at filmportal.de
- Allons enfants… pour l'Algérie at the DEFA Foundation
Individual evidence
- ↑ Berliner Zeitung of November 20, 1961, p. 2.
- ↑ Neues Deutschland, January 27, 1962, p. 4.
- ↑ Neue Zeit of January 24, 1962, p. 2.
- ↑ Allons enfants… pour l'Algérie. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from November 20, 1961, p. 1