The man from the Palatinate
The man from the Palatinate is a television film produced for ZDF by Thomas Schadt, which depicts part of the life of former Chancellor Helmut Kohl in a mixture of feature film and documentary. It deals with the period between 1947 and 1966, the rise of Kohl to Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, the time of the upheaval process in 1989, German unity and the associated opening of the Wall . Helmut Kohl from 1989 is played in the film by actor Thomas Thieme , the young Kohl is played by Stephan Grossmann . ZDF first showed the film on October 20, 2009.
action
The film begins with documentary footage of Helmut Kohl from 1989, which the actor Thieme comments in the background in the role of Helmut Kohl. Shortly afterwards, the actual film plot starts. CDU General Secretary Heiner Geißler expects to enter into a conversation with Kohl, as there has been a split in the CDU into Kohl supporters and Kohl opponents. Geißler belongs to the latter. Due to a prostate disease, Helmut Kohl has to be admitted to a hospital in Bonn.
The first flashback takes place in 1947 in Oggersheim , where young Kohl meets young Hannelore Renner , who later becomes his wife, at a dance class . In the further course of the flashback, a few years later, Kohl rose to the position of deputy chairman of the Young Union of Rhineland-Palatinate, which he helped to build , and at a party congress of the state CDU expresses strong concerns and concerns about the Catholic-dominated party staff that is blocking reforms, the largely still consists of old members of the Center Party .
Then the year 1989 is the theme again and Kohl's discharge from the Bonn hospital. This is followed by the CDU party conference in Bremen, in which Kohl takes part despite being advised by the doctors and on the following press evening prematurely announced the opening of the Hungarian border.
This scene looks back to the year 1966. There the ex-Chancellor Adenauer gives a speech at the Rhineland-Palatinate party congress of the CDU . He clearly declares his interest in a change in leadership in the CDU party staff in Rhineland-Palatinate. He is also there openly for the candidate Kohl as the successor to the Prime Minister and party leader Altmeier .
Then November 10, 1989. Chancellor Kohl wanted to speak to the citizens of West Berlin the day after the fall of the Wall, but was drowned out by the volume of the crowd. He believes in a conspiracy of the citizens and shortly afterwards, pelted with fruit and vegetables, gets in his car and talks to his office manager Juliane Weber about the current situation. After this incident, Helmut Kohl announced the ten-point program for German unity in front of the Bundestag without consulting the coalition partner FDP and Foreign Minister Genscher . After this action, a meeting is arranged with François Mitterrand , where a possible unit with the support of France is discussed. Mitterrand gives free passage for such a project and Kohl has reached his main goal, German unity.
History of origin
In preparation for the film, Thomas Schadt and producer Nico Hofmann held long discussions with Helmut Kohl. The material was originally intended to be processed into a docudrama together with the movie scenes. After all, Kohl did not want passages from the 30-hour material to be incorporated into the film.
Web links
- The man from the Palatinate in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Welt Online: TV game shows Helmut Kohl up close
- ^ Spiegel Online: The former Chancellor's son attacks filmmakers