The uprising (1980)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The uprising / La insurreción |
| Country of production | Germany , Costa Rica |
| original language | Spanish |
| Publishing year | 1980 |
| length | 101 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Peter Lilienthal |
| script | Peter Lilienthal, Antonio Skármeta |
| production |
Heinz Angermeyer , Joachim von Vietinghoff , Carlos Álvarez |
| music | Claus Bantzer |
| camera | Michael Ballhaus |
| cut | Siegrun hunter |
| occupation | |
| |
The uprising , Spanish original title La insurreción is a West German - Costa Rican film by Peter Lilienthal , which was shot in Nicaragua and set in the final phase of the Nicaraguan Revolution in 1979. The world premiere took place on June 13, 1980 in Berlin , the film was awarded the German Film Prize in the same year .
action
The soldier Agustin, Fernmelder in the Guardia Nacional de Nicaragua wants to spend a relaxing getaway with his family, which is in financial difficulties. His father openly sympathizes with the rebellious Sandinista and reproaches him for his membership in the Guardia, which is only an instrument of the dictator Somoza . Agustin argues that he eventually finances the family with his wages , even the studies of his sister Eugenia, about whose stay the family does not provide any information.
The family succeeds in persuading Agustin to desert . Eugenia is already a member of the Sandinista guerrillas . Agustin's desertion provokes a sharp reaction from Capitán Fuentes, his superior. Fuentes has the house of Agustin's family rearranged and hostages brought in from the neighboring houses , which he threatens to shoot if Agustin does not surrender. Faced with this situation, Agustin feels compelled to give in. Preparations are being made for his family's escape to the USA in the captain's house . Fuentes offers Agustin to accompany him. He can learn English quickly in the States and complete a technical degree.
A delegation of soldiers' mothers appears in the barracks of Fuentes and asks him to release their sons, otherwise they could be killed in the uprising. Fuentes explains to them that a barracks is not a boarding school for girls, where you can go in and out at will. Even more important than the mother of a soldier is the “mother country ” (Spanish: madre patria ). He will not leave Nicaragua to the "Sandino Communists".
The Sandinista begin the final uprising. Agustin is assigned to a special unit, the " jackals ", which is trained particularly brutally. When he was involved in an operation in which peaceful church occupiers were being massacred, he decided, this time of his own accord, to desert.
When Fuentes is surrounded by the guerrillas, he takes civilians hostage in order to flee with his military column. He meets Agustin, who is now fighting in the guerrilla. Augustine falls, so does Fuentes. Documentary footage shows the invasion of the Sandinista in Managua , Daniel Ortega can be clearly seen.
Production notes
The shooting took place from November 18, 1979 to January 3, 1980 in Managua and León and the surrounding area. In addition to ZDF , Istmo-Film SA, based in San José / Costa Rica , was also involved in the production. The film was shot on 16mm film in Eastmancolor and inflated on 35mm film . As far as is known, the actors were all amateur actors .
In 1981 the film was shown in the USA under the title The Uprising , and in the GDR it was shown from September 17, 1982.
criticism
Gaston Salvatore in: Der Spiegel from October 6, 1980:
- ... Nevertheless, Lilienthal failed: "The uprising" is an artistic disaster. The reasons for its failure are anything but banal. I consider it worthwhile to examine them, because I have seldom seen a political film in which the difficulties and contradictions of the genre can be read more clearly and blatantly ... Lilienthal has confided in the reminiscences of its actors so uncontrollably that even the simplest military rules, without which no guerrilla can do, are overridden. Even if television, as a sponsor, may not have granted the director the means that would have been necessary to properly stage a war of liberation: Lilienthal should not have taken the risk of turning Nicaragua's bloody history into a war game.
- The political analysis on which the film is based seems just as ignorant. Perhaps the expression analysis is already too exaggerated here; we are dealing with a terrible oversimplification. At best, what is shown on the screen is the struggle of good against evil: the poor, simple, working people are good, the National Guard is evil ...
Hans C. Blumenberg in: The time of October 10, 1980:
- ... As early as November 1979, Lilienthal and his team (camera: Michael Ballhaus) went to Leon to trace the struggle of the Sandinista liberation front with local laypeople. That could have been exciting, but the director limits himself to illustrating well-known events using the example of a classic father / son conflict (the old man in the revolution camp, the boy in the Somoza army). The bad guys wear green uniforms, the good guys colorful shirts, and since nobody in the audience has the slightest sympathy for the Somoza terror, the woodcut-like revolution fresco soon becomes boring. And Lilienthal lacks the staging power for the Song of Solidarity.
Ernesto Cardenal , Nicaraguan Minister of Culture at the time, quoted from the booklet of the DVD edition:
- This film ... is a manual of tenderness, is a song to love, freedom and peace of the people of Nicaragua. And in order to sing these things you have to grasp them with feeling, otherwise you will betray them. "The uprising" understood the revolution in Nicaragua.
Lore
The film was edited in 2011 by Zweiausendein in the Spanish original with German subtitles on DVD .
Web links
- The uprising in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The uprising at filmportal.de
- Gaston Salvatore: The Song of Songs of Sandinism, in: Der Spiegel, October 6, 1980
- Film review in Die Zeit from October 10, 1980
- Film review by Janet Maslin in The New York Times August 14, 1981