To life!

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Movie
Original title To life!
To life! .Png
Country of production Germany
original language German , Yiddish
Publishing year 2014
length 90 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Uwe Janson
script Thorsten Wettcke ,
Stephen Glantz (template),
Volker Kellner
production Alice Brauner
music Martin Stock , Sharon Brauner
camera Peter Joachim Krause
cut Boris Gromatzki ,
Anna-Kristin Nekarda
occupation
Set installation in the Redoute in Bad Godesberg

To life! is a feature film by the German director Uwe Janson about a Jewish woman traumatized by the war and the Nazi era , a terminally ill young man and their common path back to life. It premiered on August 17, 2014 at the World Film Festival in Montreal . It ran in German cinemas on November 14, 2014. It was released on DVD in Germany on July 24, 2015.

action

The former cabaret singer Ruth Weintraub is at its twilight years by eviction evicted from his home and workshop for Saiteninstrumentenbau and resettled in an anonymous residential complex.

The young furniture maker Jonas is the only one who shows a little empathy; after the old apartment has been emptied, he drives the old lady to the new accommodation. She asks him to deliver a repaired instrument to a customer. When he later returns to deliver the customer's money to her, he finds her unconscious and with her wrists cut in the bathroom.

He drives her to the hospital and brings her some personal belongings the next day. He doesn't have an apartment in Berlin and usually spends the night on his bus. But because it was stolen and Ruth is now stuck in the psychiatric ward, he sets up camp in her new apartment.

A bond develops between the two superficially very different characters, which stems from the lives of the two of them, which are gradually becoming clearer: as a child, unlike her Jewish family, Ruth barely escaped being murdered in the concentration camp . Her career as a singer ended abruptly in the 1970s after she unexpectedly stumbled upon her tormentor from the Nazi era at a vernissage, stabbed him with a knife and had to go to prison. After she was arrested, she stopped singing and has been repairing stringed instruments in her small workshop ever since. Jonas is on the run from all the people he loves because he has multiple sclerosis and wants to spare them his suffering.

background

The film was produced by CCC-Film and is dedicated to Maria Brauner, the mother of the producer and aunt of the actress and singer Sharon Brauner , who plays the young Ruth in the film. Parts of the story are based on childhood memories of Artur Brauner , which are told in the film Bloody Snow from 1984. The relationship between Ruth and Jonas is fictitious.

title

"Auf das Leben!" Is the German form of the Hebrew drinking and blessing quote L'Chaim! .

reception

FBW seal (PW) .jpg

The jury of the German Film and Media Assessment (FBW) awarded the rating “valuable” and praised the camera, light and equipment as well as the development of the main characters. Among other things, she criticized the “too smooth processing” of the story and the lack of courage to “break new ground in terms of style”.

criticism

Ulrich Sonnenschein from epd Film is less impressed by the “ Harold and Maude topic” than by the “sharp criticism of the ignorance of fellow men and the possibility of salvation”. The Jewish L'Chaim! is not a banal toast here, but rather is “filled with content”; the “ traumas of fascism ” are “not relics of a long past time”, but rather the interweaving of the two fates keeps the film “radically present”.

The story loses its balance, however, as Jonas' lost love and illness were not enough to make up for Ruth's trauma. It is "thanks to the ensemble that [the film] still lasts in the end".

Tillman Gangloff from the Frankfurter Rundschau praised the “skillful combination of the present and the past” in Thorsten Wettcke's script and the “outstanding camera work” by Peter Joachim Krause. He "succeeded in pictures of beguiling beauty".

Festivals

To life! was shown at the following festivals, among others:

music

In the film, Yiddish songs are played and sung, among other things at the performances of the young Ruth. With this film, the producer wanted to “set a monument” for this music, as it reflected “the joy and suffering of a whole people” and was “a very important part” of her Jewish culture. It's a very personal selection of songs her parents sang to her as a child.

The soundtrack for the film will be released on August 22, 2014 under the title “To Life! To life! ” Published by Colosseum Music .

Track list

No. title Music / lyrics Interpreter length
1 For me, art thou schejn
(Fast Version)		 Sholom Secunda /
Jacob Jacobs 		Sharon Brauner
& Band		 2:09
2 I raised you tsufil lib A. Olschanetzky /
Chaim Tauber 		Hannelore Elsner 2:46
3 Rumenye, Rumenye Aaron Lebedeff Sharon Brauner,
Hannelore Elsner & Psychoband		 2:16
4th Tumbalalaika russ. trad. / traditional instrumental 3:19
5 You're with me Secunda / Jacobs instrumental 1:13
6th The Noyz Eniac Remix Tomcraft & Eniac 5:31
7th Wu is dos Gesele Sholom Secunda /
Israel Rosenberg 		Sharon Brauner
& Band		 3:16
8th Bublitschki bagelach nn / Jakow Jadow Sharon Brauner
& Band		 2:54
9 I raised you tsufil lib Olschanetzky / Tauber instrumental 2:11
10 You're with me House mix Eniac feat.
Sharon Brauner		 2:35
11 Interview 1 Martin Stock 2:16
12 Tumbalalaika traditional Sharon Brauner
& Band		 3:11
13 Rumenye, Rumenye Aaron Lebedeff Sharon Brauner
& Band		 3:42
14th I raised you tsufil lib Olschanetzky / Tauber Max Riemelt 0:51
15th Interview 2 Martin Stock 2:50
16 Jonas is running Martin Stock instrumental 1:33
17th to clean up Martin Stock instrumental 1:51
18th I raised you tsufil lib Olschanetzky / Tauber Hannelore Elsner
& Psychoband		 2:46
19th With me bistu Schejn
(slow version)		 Secunda / Jacobs Sharon Brauner
& Band		 1:56
Total length album: 46:06

literature

References

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for Auf das Leben! Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , September 2014 (PDF; test number: 147 042 K).
  2. ↑ Sharon Brauner: News: From November 27th in the cinema. "To life!" (from November 2014). As of May 30, 2017
  3. ↑ a b To life! (Zip archive) In: Press release for the film. niama-film GmbH, accessed on February 22, 2017 .
  4. ^ Jury statement. German film and media rating. FBW, accessed February 22, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Ulrich Sonnenschein: Film review "Auf das Leben!" epd-film, November 14, 2014, accessed on February 22, 2017 .
  6. ^ Tillmann P. Gangloff: Traced paths . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . Frankfurt August 5, 2016 ( fr.de ).
  7. ↑ IMDb Release Info , accessed February 23, 2017
  8. ↑ To Life! (To life!). soundtrack.net, accessed February 22, 2017 .