From our time

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Movie
Original title From our time
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1970
length 127 minutes

A four-part episode film by various DEFA directors from 1970 is from Our Time . The episodes are not linked by a framework, but are completely independent.

Episode 1: The Two Sons

Movie
Original title The two sons
length 26 minutes
Rod
Director Helmut Nitzschke
script Helmut Nitzschke
camera Claus Neumann
cut Margrit Brusendorff
occupation

Die Zwei Söhne is an episode of DEFA's German feature film From Our Time by Helmut Nitzschke from 1970, based loosely on the story The Two Lost Sons from the literary collection of Calendar Stories by Bertolt Brecht .

action

This episode tells of a farmer's wife, on whose farm several Soviet prisoners of war work towards the end of the war in 1945. Her brother who lives there is an invalid and supervises the soldiers and he makes sure that things don't go well for them. One morning, while washing one of the prisoners under the pump in the yard, the farmer thought she recognized her son's face. This phenomenon is repeated more and more often and she then decides to make small gestures of humanity towards the prisoners. On a favorable occasion, her brother was always very vigilant, the farmer's wife slipped the apparent doppelganger a slice of bacon. Although she no longer saw her son's face in him, she still tried to help again and again.

One night the son who had been dispersed by his SS unit actually showed up. Since he was afraid that the prisoners might betray him to the advancing Red Army, he decided to kill them. He did not succeed because they had managed to escape in the meantime, thanks to wire cutters received from the farmer's wife. The farmer's wife, who was shocked to see what had become of her son, now resorted to an unusual means of saving his life. She tied him up and brought him into captivity with the Soviet soldiers who had arrived in the meantime so that he would not lose his life, fanatically fighting on to the end.

Episode 2: The Duel

Movie
Original title The duel
length 36 minutes
Rod
Director Hans-Joachim Kunert
script Manfred Freitag
Jochen Nestler
Anna Seghers
Hans Joachim Kunert
camera Helmut Bergmann
cut Christa Helwig
occupation

Das Duell is an episode of the DEFA German feature film From Our Time by Hans-Joachim Kunert from 1970, loosely based on the story Das Duell from the literary collection Die Kraft der Schwenken by Anna Seghers .

action

In a castle around 1946, several young people were being prepared for university studies. The communist Bötcher comes to this course as the representative for the implementation of the school reform and meets Professor Winkelfried. This professor replaced Böttcher at the Technical University in Dresden in 1933, as he affirmed in writing that he was close to National Socialism and Böttcher was sent to a concentration camp because of his convictions.

Even today Winkelfried is an old-school professor who fears a decline in culture in the face of workers 'and peasants' power. He is therefore of the opinion that students who were formerly workers cannot withstand the demands of a degree. Due to the pressure generated in this way, the student Helwig is really not able to follow the material. But Bötcher recognizes his problem with the lecturer and stays longer for inspection. He now works with several students until they understand the tasks. Based on the knowledge and self-confidence they have obtained here, all students on the course pass the entrance exam for the course.

Episode 3: Ordinary People

Movie
Original title Ordinary people
length 35 minutes
Rod
Director Rainer Simon
script Werner Bräunig
Manfred Freitag
Jochen Nestler
Rainer Simon
music Peter Rabenalt
camera Claus Neumann
cut Margrit Brusendorff
occupation

Ordinary People is an episode of the German DEFA feature film From Our Time by Rainer Simon from 1970, freely based on the story of the same name by Werner Bräunig .

action

It is a common everyday story that is told, and yet, if you think a little about the many little things, impressions of the moment, then the main thing emerges from these many aptly observed trivialities.

After their wedding, Hannes and Adele go to his parents' home in the small town of Kossin. They met on a building site in Halle-Neustadt, he as a civil engineer and she as an intern. During the stay in his hometown, there are always reviews of their previous life together. The problems with the completion of the prefabricated buildings are not excluded, because socialist housing cannot go without difficulties.

It is shown again and again that the two are completely normal people. Because the young couple can also hold their own with their parents, brothers and friends. Adele is a confident woman and that goes down well with everyone.

Episode 4: The computer says: no

Movie
Original title The computer says no
length 31 minutes
Rod
Director Kurt Maetzig
script Irene Maetzig
Ralph Knebel
Kurt Maetzig
music Thomas Doberkau
Bernd Fülle
camera Rolf Sohre
cut Erika Lehmphul
occupation

The computer says: no is an episode of DEFA's German feature film From Our Time by Kurt Maetzig from 1970,

action

In the Soviet Union and the GDR, the computers are asked whether it is possible to build a politically important amplifier for the radio station of Radio Havana in Cuba within three months. The calculations made showed that this is impossible. The technician Sascha from Moscow and the technician Dieter are not satisfied with this result and one of the experts has the saving idea. The computer results are refuted with very simple means, which is supposed to prove that a certain technical problem can be solved by a close collaboration of socialist scientists.

production

From our time was shot by the artistic working group “Red Circle” on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the GDR as a black and white film and had its premiere on January 15, 1970 in the Berlin Kino International . It was first broadcast on the first program on GDR television on February 26, 1973.

criticism

Günter Sobe from the Berliner Zeitung comes to the conclusion that this episode film does not want to conform to any artistic unity. It is not an uninteresting attempt, but it cannot be described as completely successful. The narrative styles and the basic stylistic conceptions are too different for that. However, it remains a film that wants to teach people to think about a path that has been covered and which, with its means, can also provide some inspiration on the path to the future.

From the perspective of Helmut Ullrich von der Neue Zeit , the film is an interesting experiment. In his opinion, the four stories could each exist as a short fiction film, but they only acquire their full meaning as components of a chronicle through their context. The given possibilities were not always exhausted. Especially the episodes Two Sons and Ordinary People have a concentrated expressiveness.

According to the lexicon of international film , the film is an informative document despite the changeable artistic quality of the contributions. The episodes The Two Sons are described as particularly successful because of their consistently persistent alienating austerity and ordinary people , as a documentary-realistic image of society with socially critical undertones.

literature

  • F.-B. Habel : The great lexicon of DEFA feature films . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , pp. 50-51 .
  • From our time In: Ingrid Poss / Peter Warneke (eds.): Trace of films Christoph Links Verlag, 2006, ISBN 978-3-86153-401-3 , p. 262.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of January 20, 1970; P. 7
  2. ↑ Neue Zeit from January 16, 1970; P. 4
  3. ↑ From our time. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used