The secret of the Andes

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title The secret of the Andes
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1972
Rod
Director Rudi Kurz
script Rudi Kurz
Wenzel Renner (dramaturgy)
production DEFA studio for feature films
for DFF
music Wolfgang Hohensee
camera Horst Hardt
cut Lotti Mehnert
Ursula Zweig
Gisela Schmidt
Renate Bade
Ingrid Landmesser
occupation

The Secret of the Andes is a five-part television series by the DFF from 1972, which takes place in Brussels , the USA , West Germany , Italy and a fictional South American country. It was shot in the DEFA studio for feature films in Potsdam and Bulgaria . The protagonist is the BND employee Dr. Jansen, who is actually a " scout " for the MfS .

Further technical data

The working title of the series was Investment Company . Alexander Lösche was responsible for production management at DEFA . The five parts were shown for the first time on December 22, 23, 25, 26 and 27, 1972 on GDR television.

The dubbing voices for the Yugoslav, Polish, Romanian and Soviet actors included Helmut Müller-Lankow (for Andrzej Szalawski ), Annekathrin Bürger (for Ioana Bulcă ), Karin Schröder (for Hanna Giza ), Angelica Domröse (for Ewa Krzyżewska ), Wolfgang Lohse (for Michail Michailow), Jürgen Kluckert (for Gojko Mitić ), Gunter Schoß (for Angel Stojanow ) and Horst Manz (for Ljubomir Dimitrow ).

action

Government Councilor Dr. Jansen works for the BND and, together with his colleagues Dr. Seibold and Langner work for NATO in Brussels . Apparently, by manipulating NATO documents, the BND has diverted several billion DM in favor of West German armaments companies, which actually belonged to the NATO partner Great Britain .

British intelligence has discovered the fraud and is looking for evidence. His agents have already broken into Jansen's apartment. While the three BND employees prepare their escape from Brussels to Bonn , it becomes clear that Jansen is working for a third party.

In a NASA office , Professor Datford made a significant discovery through satellite images that are apparently related to rare mineral resources and are located in an unspecified South American state located in the Chile / Peru area. Datford persuades his manager Sam Howard to contact the "Plesso" group in order to make a fortune with their knowledge. "Plesso" boss Patrick Homefield agrees with Datford's proposals.

A commando group from "Plesso" begins to secretly take soil samples in the South American state. The employees flew into the country in a load glider and have a jeep , radio equipment and a laboratory. Fights broke out with members of the rival company "Panex", which owns the oil production rights in this country . It turns out that there are world-class oil reserves that surpass those of Arabia . The “Plesso” squad is destroyed by the “Panex” employees.

Dr. Jansen is ambushed in the Brussels office by employees of the British secret service. On behalf of his superiors, Jansen was only supposed to give the British game material when he withdrew from Brussels in order to deceive them about the actual activities of the BND. But Jansen deliberately leaves the British with far more documents than the BND intended after they beat him up and threatened him with staged suicide . Because Jansen actually works for the Ministry for State Security of the GDR.

Due to his seemingly successful assignment in Brussels, Dr. Jansen, whose left arm the British broke when he was questioned, was treated in a hospital in a small town near Bonn . In recognition of this, he received the Federal Cross of Merit and the memoirs of Konrad Adenauer from Ministerialdirigent von Plesckow with the comment “The Knight's Cross of Peace” .

However, for foreign policy reasons, Jansen must be taken out of the line of fire. In the future he will work in a front company of the BND that works for “Panex”. Jansen therefore travels to the said South American state and seeks the large landowner Don Pineto there. Don Pineto is the owner of the land on which the oil reserves are located. In addition, Pineto controls an important port, without which “Panex” cannot export the oil as planned. However, Don Pineto is not interested in money and wants to continue farming. He also has good relations with the country's conservative government.

Jansen claims to Don Pineto that he is the nephew of the late Walter Wittmann, who was with Pineto in the SS . Because in fact the large landowner is the former SS-Obersturmbannführer Karl Friedrich Binder. At the end of 1944, on the orders of Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Binder went underground in Ukraine and traveled to South America to set up a hiding place for Kaltenbrunners and other Nazi refugees. Binder and Wittmann come from Münster , Jansen from Hamm . Jansen claims to have inherited a large fortune from his uncle Wittmann and wants to settle down in Don Pineto's neighborhood.

A diverse opposition has formed against the country's conservative government. In the upcoming elections, Christian Democrats and the Popular Front , to which u. a. the doctor Azuela belongs to compete together. There is also a left-wing guerrilla group that operates in the mountains. Both the teacher Cuadras and Felipe, a foreman of Don Pineto, are in contact with this group, although Felipe always appears to the outside world as a loyal servant to Pineto.

When Cuadras holds an election rally, Don Pineto's right-hand man, Capo Pancho, betrays him. Pineto ambushes Cuadras and drags him behind his horse to deter the local farmers, seriously injuring Cuadras. Dr. Jansen finds out about this and helps Cuadras. He also gets to know the young Tambo, who works with Cuadras and the guerrillas.

Meanwhile, politicians and military in Washington, DC fear a victory of the Popular Front in the upcoming elections in the South American state. A conference is convened, in addition to the State Department , representatives of the CIA , the US Air Force , the US Army , the US Navy , the foreign ministers of the South American state and members of "Panex" and "Tesso" take part. Political pressure forces the two companies to work together in the higher interests of the state. This thwarts the plans of Datford, who is professionally ruined.

The conspirators in Washington are planning a coup to prevent the opposition from winning the election. A load of weapons is landed in Don Pineto's port and is said to end up in the hands of right-wing militias . But the guerrillas found out about the transport; they dress up as soldiers and intercept the cargo in the harbor.

By chance, Dr. Jansen in the Pinetos house on a diary that Binder kept during the Second World War . Jansen learns that in the summer of 1941 Binder attacked a transport of works of art under the alias Manfred Naumann in unoccupied France , which were to be brought to safety from the German occupation forces in Paris to Toulouse . "Naumann" killed a number of accompanying French scientists. Binder committed the attack on behalf of Kaltenbrunner, but diverted valuable items for himself. The French are looking for "Naumann" because of the murder of the scientists.

Since Don Pineto continues to refuse to sell his land to "Panex", the BND, together with the CIA and the US military , carries out a special operation. You kidnap Pinetos' twin brother, the physics professor Binder, who teaches at the University of Cologne , on the street in Cologne . The professor believes that his brother died in the war. The BND agents deliver Prof. Binder to an American military base near Cologne, from which he is flown to Italy . There he is prepared for his actual task: in South America, instead of his brother, he is supposed to sign the sale of the large estate.

The professor is flown to South America. Since his brother still refuses to sign, the professor signs the documents in the presence of several witnesses and his twin brother. Don Pineto is powerless against this because he has no allies in his home or in the government.

Dr. Jansen has now established contact with the French embassy. Don Pineto is transported by guerrillas on a French ship that is cruising off the coast so that he can be tried in France. The art treasures stolen by Pineto / Binder are found in a hiding place. An attempt by Pineto's daughter Maja to flee the country with the booty was prevented by her father.

Dr. Jansen explains the legal situation to Cuadras. Don Pineto's possessions are owned by the Federal Republic of Germany , as it is the legal successor to the German Empire . The contract signed by Binder's brother is invalid because the real Binder is a multiple murderer. Cuadras thanks Jansen: “You have made decisive progress in our country”.

Contemporary background

The figure of Don Pineto is closely based on Klaus Barbie , the American coup plans obviously refer to the US intervention in Chile and the Chilean President Salvador Allende, who was overthrown in 1973 . The events in Brussels, especially the Dr. Jansen threatened "suicide" by British agents, apparently refers to the Lüdke affair in October 1968 in Brussels / Bonn.

Fatal accident while filming

In his memoir "The Green and Other Monsters", director Kurz reports on a serious accident while filming in Bulgaria. While shooting in a jeep, the driver Ewa Krzyżewska (Maja), who did not have a driver's license, probably lost control of the car. Although the occupants were still able to leave the crashing car, stuntman Manfred Isensee was fatally injured and another stuntman was seriously injured. The actual course of the accident could allegedly not be clarified.

Actors' comments on their roles

... This Dr. Jansen is a man who never gives up, a whole guy, sympathetic, strong-willed, quick to react ... His secret assignment means that he gets into life-threatening situations. Such a role therefore requires not only mental concentration but also appropriate physical commitment. That means I had to ride, swim and climb, beat myself with Gojko Mitic and shoot with Erwin Geschonnek….

Horst Schulze, booklet accompanying the DVD edition

After many positive roles, I am playing here ... a villain - and what a villain ... And so it was very tempting for me to play this role because it is full of vitality and emotions and demands something from the actor. The character is very complex, very colorful, yes, very comedic - a character that appears very rarely in our films. ... That means, I tried to see the human side of this villain in order to make him even more villainous ... So I think I gave the character what is in it, what it deserves ...

Erwin Geschonneck, booklet accompanying the DVD edition

criticism

As always with Rudi Kurz, one could assume that it was not about tension "per se", not about a cheap concession to sentimental wild west romanticism, but that his heroes had to prove themselves in politically explosive situations. "The secret of the Andes" was deciphered in the ruthless struggle of American corporations for the natural resources of Latin America and also in the fact that these corporations are being increasingly pointed out by the peoples of this continent to the limits of their expansion policy ...

... It's a shame, however, that Dr. Jansen was introduced into the plot in such a lengthy and cumbersome manner. This made the first part too lengthy and the tension, especially the last three episodes, was hardly noticeable ...

Katja Stern, Neues Deutschland from December 28, 1972

Trivia

That Dr. Jansen works for the MfS, does not emerge from contemporary criticism, the director's memoir or the booklet accompanying the DVD edition.

See also

Lore

literature

  • Katja Stern: Poetry and Adventure. Two new films on GDR television , in: Neues Deutschland from December 28, 1972, p. 4.
  • Rudi Kurz: Of greens and other monsters. Theater, television and lifetime , Böklund (Verlag Wiljo Heinen) 2008, ISBN 978-3-939828-24-2 .
  • Film bibliographic annual report 1972 , Berlin 1974, pp. 35f., 297.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rudi Kurz: From greens and other monsters, p. 155 f