The Arctic Ocean Calls (1984)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Arctic Ocean is calling |
| Country of production | GDR |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1984 |
| length | 82 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Jörg Foth |
| script | Jörg Foth, Petra Lataster-Czisch scenario |
| production | DEFA , KAG "Babelsberg" |
| music | Uwe Hilprecht |
| camera | Wolfgang Braumann |
| cut | Erika Lehmphul |
| occupation | |
| |
The Ice Sea Calls is a German children's film by DEFA by Jörg Foth from 1984. It is based on the children's book of the same name by Alex Wedding .
action
Prague in 1934: Ten-year-old Anton, nine-year-old Alex, eight-year-old Rosi, six-year-old Ferdi and boy Rudi heard the news on their self-made radio that the ship Cheliuskin in the Arctic Ocean was locked in by the pack ice and the crew could not be rescued . You decide to go on an expedition to the North Pole and rescue the castaways. To finance it, they sell their stamp collection and a pocket watch, among other things. They organize flour, because Rosi has always offered to bake pancakes for everyone, build a compass and steal a map of the world from school on which they want to read their progress towards the north. Careful calculations let the group plan a walk of 9,000 kilometers. The first part, however, is to be covered by train.
At the train station, the group disguised for security reasons is reduced in size: Rudi, who is a hindrance anyway due to a leg in plaster, remains behind, as the money saved is only enough for one ticket for four. Because the four children on the train again attract negative attention when they practice strength training by hanging overhead on the luggage rack, they have to get off early. We continue cross-country, the group follows the compass display to the north. Soon the youngest, Ferdi, will be cranky because he cannot go any further. He befriends a black mouse that he calls Michael, which he then carries with him in a small box. There is little friction: Anton, as the oldest, leads the group and wants to cover as much distance as possible during the day and not take any breaks to the displeasure of the others. Soon, however, they stop at a landmark that shows them that they are already a little more than 30 kilometers from Prague. They rested. The mood sinks when Rosi conjures up burnt pancakes from flour and water, which only Alexander eats without complaint. The children spend the night on a meadow and Ferdi, who does not want to go any further the next day, pretends to be sick. He is now brought by the others on the map of the world that has been converted into a stretcher to Rosi's aunt, who lives nearby. Here the children wash themselves, have dinner and finally fall asleep in soft duvets. The news brings the information that the survivors of the Chelyuskin demise have not yet been helped, despite various attempts. In addition, the four children are reported missing.
The next morning two policemen appear at Rosi's aunt and the four children hurry away. You can escape the cops by wading through a river. Her next destination is an allegedly secret corridor that is supposed to bring her from Prague directly to Germany. Although they find a cave passage, Ferdi, who is still dressed in a nightgown, only enters it after he has released the mouse Michael into freedom. They would have to leave the map behind because it is too bulky, and the glass with the compass breaks in the dark. Anton, in turn, ignites a fireworks rocket, which they had taken with them as an emergency signal, and sees that the cave floor is full of cracks. The expedition has to be canceled. On the banks of the Vltava, the four children are taken back to Prague by raftsmen. Anton is disappointed that the expedition was a failure, but the children are welcomed like heroes by their comrades in Prague. They get spanked by their parents. In the meantime, the Chelyuskin survivors were rescued by air. The day ends with a big party.
production
The Sea of Ice Calls had its premiere on March 30, 1984 in the Dresden film theater Prager Straße . On the same day it was shown in the GDR cinemas and ran for the first time on May 11, 1985 on DFF 1 on GDR television. On November 7, 1985, the film was shown in German cinemas and on July 4, 1986, it had its television premiere in Germany on ARD .
The Arctic Ocean is calling was Jörg Foth's film debut. Parallel to the plot, the film contains original recordings of the ship disaster, the subsequent time of the crew and passengers on the ice and the rescue of the people. If the children's scenes are in color, the original recordings are shown in black and white.
Reviews
Contemporary critics wrote that director Jörg Foth “is to be congratulated on this delightful debut.” “His talent proves itself by relying above all on the deep experience and imagination of his young actors. For them too, as the film shows, it is an adventure to surpass oneself, to try out the willingness to participate in society in a child's play. ”The contemporary critics compared the film with the color of the descriptions of Prague by Karel Čapek and Egon Erwin Kisch .
The film-dienst called the film "a stylistically appealing, playful ode to the idealism of childhood, which propagates virtues such as helpfulness, tolerance and understanding." "A hymn to tolerance and dreams," said Cinema .
Awards
At the 4th national film festival “ Goldener Spatz ” for children's films from the GDR in cinemas and television in Gera, Das Eismeer ruft was awarded the special prize of the Association of Film and Television Makers in 1985. In 1985 he also received the Critics' Prize of the Association of Film and Television Creators of the GDR “for outstanding artistic performance in the field of children's films”.
literature
- F.-B. Habel : The great lexicon of DEFA feature films . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , pp. 136-137 .
- The Arctic Ocean is calling . In: Ingelore König, Dieter Wiedemann, Lothar Wolf (eds.): Between Marx and Muck. DEFA films for children . Henschel, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-89487-234-9 , pp. 325-327.
Web links
- The Arctic Ocean is calling in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The sea of ice calls at filmportal.de
- The Arctic Ocean is calling the DEFA Foundation
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Hans-Dieter Tok in: Wochenpost , No. 23m 1984.
- ↑ Raymund Stolze: A debut becomes a discovery . In: Junge Welt , April 6, 1984.
- ↑ The Arctic Ocean is calling. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ See cinema.de
- ↑ See defa.de