Brassed Off - With timpani and trumpets

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Movie
German title Brassed Off - With timpani and trumpets
Original title Brassed Off
Country of production Great Britain
original language English
Publishing year 1996
length 107 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Mark Herman
script Mark Herman
production Steve Abbott
Olivia Stewart
music Trevor Jones
camera Andy Collins
cut Michael Ellis
occupation

Brassed Off - With timpani and trumpets (Original title: Brassed Off ) is a British tragic comedy from 1996 . Directed by Mark Herman , who also wrote the script .

action

At the beginning of the 1990s, the young Gloria was sent to her hometown in Northern England, where she was supposed to investigate the profitability of a coal mine for the corporate management . She begins to play with the in-house Bergmanns Brass Band , led by the older but combative Danny. Gloria hides from the band members that she works for the group management. The woman even begins a love affair with young Andy. When the colliery is about to be closed, the band members no longer see any point in their leisure activities.

Gloria and Danny renew the miners' confidence and train the band to compete at London's Royal Albert Hall . But then Danny collapses because of the consequences of his pneumonia and is admitted to a hospital, whereupon his deeply indebted son Phil attempts suicide. The band continues anyway, goes to London and surprisingly wins the competition. Danny refuses to accept the award and criticizes the government's economic policy in a speech.

background

The film shows the situation in the British mining towns threatened by job cuts in the mid-1990s. Because of the British general election in 1997 , which took place shortly after the premiere , it was said to have had a strong political component during this period. It grossed approximately $ 2.56 million in US cinemas and approximately £ 2.82 million in British cinemas . In Germany there were around 37,000 moviegoers.

During the course of the film, music sequences are often recorded, mostly while the fictional brass band "Grimley Colliery" is rehearsing or giving a concert in the film. The recordings come from the world-famous " Grimethorpe Colliery Band ", some of which can also be seen in the film band itself. Among other things, the following are played:

Paul Allen reworked the script into a stage version in 1998. The world premiere took place in Sheffield. There is also a German version of the piece.

Reviews

James Berardinelli wrote on ReelViews that the job loss was traumatizing, but it was nothing compared to the loss of identity that the film showed. The film is a traditional "feel-good motion picture" with elements of social criticism; he could have been stricter. Pete Postlethwaite, whose Danny was "moving" and "proud", gave the best portrayal. The characters played by emerging stars Ewan McGregor and Tara Fitzgerald are neither particularly necessary nor effective. However, the love story shown could reach a wide audience.

The lexicon of international films wrote that the “partisan, committed” film was “located between quiet comedy and drama”. He placed “human dignity at the center of his actions” and emphasized “the power of acting in solidarity”. He was "played wonderfully and photographed sensitively". The film takes on "the traditions of socially committed English cinema" and expands them.

Cinema magazine wrote that “the bitter outcome of a film” is seldom staged “so triumphantly”. The “great scene” at the end mixes “despair, hopelessness and hope”; it makes tangible "what human dignity consists of: not to give up, even if there seems to be every reason for it".

The Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek wrote in his book The Merciless Love : “Mark Hermans Brassed Off . It is about the relationship between the 'real' political struggle - the miners 'struggle against the threatened closure of the mine - and the idealized symbolic expression of community through the miners' marching band. To the miners, the 'only music counts!' Attitude of their old and sick conductor appears to the miners like a futile, fetishistic insistence on the empty symbolic form that has been robbed of its social substance. However, when the fight is lost, their insistence on playing on and participating in a national competition turns into a symbolic gesture of resistance, an appropriate act of continuing the political struggle. Or as one of them puts it: 'When there is no more hope, only the principles remain.' "

Awards

Mark Herman has received numerous international awards, including the Grand Prix of the Paris Film Festival, the Emden Film Award and the Peter Sellers Award for Comedy (in 1997) as well as the César and the German Film Prize (both in 1998 ). He was nominated for the BAFTA Award in 1997.

Ewan McGregor won the 1997 London Critics Circle Film Award. Steve Abbott (together with Mark Herman) and Trevor Jones were nominated for the 1997 BAFTA Award. In 1998 he received the Prix ​​Lumières for the best foreign film .

Secondary literature

Jürgen Heizmann: "With timpani and trumpets / Brassed Off". In: Heimatfilm international. Edited by Jürgen Heizmann. Stuttgart 2016, ISBN 978-3-15-019396-9 , pp. 123 - 129.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Box office results on imdb.com, accessed on December 27, 2007.
  2. ^ Brassed Off. State Theater Cottbus website , accessed on December 28, 2019 .
  3. ^ Film review by James Berardinelli , accessed January 2, 2008.
  4. ↑ Brassed Off - With Timpani and Trumpets in the Lexicon of International FilmsTemplate: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used , accessed on December 27, 2007.
  5. ^ Film review on cinema.de, accessed on December 27, 2007.
  6. ^ Slavoj Žižek: The merciless love . Suhrkamp Verlag, 2001, 192 pp., ISBN 978-3-518-29145-0 .