The medicus (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Medicus |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2013 |
| length | Theatrical version: 150 minutes Extended version : 181 minutes |
| Age rating |
FSK 12 JMK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Philipp Stölzl |
| script | Jan Berger |
| production |
Wolf farmer Nico Hofmann |
| music | Ingo Ludwig Frenzel |
| camera | Hagen Bogdanski |
| cut | Sven Budelmann |
| occupation | |
| |
The Medicus is a German film by the director Philipp Stölzl from 2013, which was shot by Noah Gordon after the world bestseller of the same name, The Medicus .
The film opened in German cinemas on December 25, 2013. On December 29 and 30, 2014, the film was shown in an extended version in two parts on the German television station Das Erste . The film was sold in 21 countries.
action
The action is set in the 11th century , when medicine and its teaching is much more advanced in Persia than in all of Europe. Robert Cole has an extraordinary gift: He can feel when someone, untreated, has an unfavorable prognosis and death is imminent . He experienced this premonition for the first time as a small boy from his mother, who was affected by the side disease. He has to watch helplessly as she dies from it. Left to his own devices , the young orphan joins a traveling spa who, in addition to the usual sleight of hand, also teaches him the basics of medieval medicine, such as bloodletting or tooth extraction . Even as an apprentice, Rob recognized the limits of these simple practices. When the barber goes blind , Rob seeks a real medicus with him in a Jewish settlement. This heals the bath completely by means of a star stitch . Meanwhile, Rob speaks to the boys Jesse and Benjamin and other members of the settlement and learns a lot about Jewish customs and traditions. During the Shabbat meal together , he sees a map of the world for the first time and hears about the famous polymath Ibn Sina , who teaches medicine in distant Persia. He enthusiastically decides to train as a doctor there. The doctor, scientist and philosopher Ibn Sina, Latinized Avicenna , heads the most important school for budding medical students in the world in Isfahan . In the local caliphate , however, the settlement of Christians is no longer allowed, only Jews are still tolerated.
On arrival in Egypt, the Christian Rob pretends to be a Jew so that he can study in Persia. To do this, he circumcised himself under a starry night sky . Under the name Jesse Ben Benjamin he joins a caravan to Isfahan, in which Rebecca is also traveling, who reads him the stories of Aladin and Sindbad from a book. When they are surprised by a desert storm, only Rob and one other man appear to have survived. The companion dies too, and Rob arrives alone in Isfahan half-dehydrated. Although he was initially rejected from Ibn Sina's school, when a guard injured his head he was accepted as a patient. Ibn Sina treats him personally and enables him to join the student group.
In Bimārestān Ibn Sinas he is trained in the basics of scientific medicine of that time as well as the philosophy of Aristotle . In this way, Rob learns the anamnesis and medical examination including pulse diagnosis , the use of the analgesic effects of opium and minor surgical interventions . When a plague epidemic breaks out in the city and thousands are killed, the medical professionals stay by the side of the patients. Little by little, important principles of hygiene are discovered and implemented. So Rob realizes that rat fleas are possible carriers of the black death. After the rats have been contained , the plague is overcome in Isfahan . He meets Rebecca again, who was "sold" as a wife to the older Bar Kappara. She falls ill with the plague, but her husband flees the city and leaves her behind. While taking care of Rebecca, Rob's passion for her flares up again. She becomes pregnant by him, does not want to cover up the love for Rob towards her husband and expects her punishment according to Jewish law. Meanwhile, the Shah tells Rob how his father raised him to be a cold-hearted dictator. He wants to win the "Englishman", as he calls him, as a friend and invites him to come along on the lion hunt, but promptly sends him away when he shows no joy in the palace's decadent diversions - opium smoking and harem ladies.
Instead, Rob is obsessed with studying human anatomy more precisely. A conflict is sparked by the ethical assessment of the autopsy on the human corpse, which Ibn Sina shuns because it is strictly forbidden by the religions. Rob learns from Quasim, a Zoroastrian who is dying of side disease , that in his religion the deceased body does not have to remain intact. Rob secretly performs an autopsy on him to deepen his anatomical knowledge , and he discovers the inflamed appendix as the cause of death . However, his research is exposed. He and his master are betrayed and sentenced to death in the mullahs' court. Later he can perform an appendectomy on the Shah under anesthetic : the side disease is defeated.
At the same time, Isfahan is betrayed to the Seljuks by the mullahs and is said to be conquered by them in order to expel or kill the Jews and secular "blasphemers" like Ibn Sina. In the chaos of the fighting, Rob and Ibn Sina can barely escape death. After a crowd destroyed the clinic, murdered the staff and set textbooks on fire, Ibn Sina committed suicide by poisoning . In the burning library, before his death, he still confides his medical legacy to the student and calls him Hakim Rob Cole.
In gratitude for the successful operation, the Shah helps many Jews under Rob's leadership to escape from the city. He and Rebecca, who can be saved at the last second from the stoning for adultery decided by the council of elders, are looking for a home where the healing arts can be practiced and their child can grow up. In the final scene, Cole's first teacher, the Bader, learns of a hospital that has opened in London, which, as the old man explains, is run by his former student and his wife.
Novel
Noah Gordon's historical novel The Physician (original title) was published by Simon & Schuster in 1986 and is the first volume in a trilogy that describes the progress of medicine with fictional stories by Rob Cole, his family and his descendants. The sequels are The Shaman (Shaman) and The Heirs of the Medicus (Matters of Choice) . In 1987 Gordon's The Physician was published in Germany under the title Der Medicus and became an international success. Rob Cole's adventures have been sold over six million times in German-speaking countries alone. However, the film deviates from the original in large parts, many roles were implemented differently than described in the book (the Bader, Karim) or completely omitted (the Scottish Christian Mary Cullen was replaced by the Jewish woman Rebecca). The course of the story has also changed significantly: no marriage was arranged for Mary, she is traveling with her father, the religious conflicts are updated in the film version as a struggle between fundamentalist Islamic and more tolerant views.
Facts and fiction
The multi-faceted representation conveys the false impression of a closeness to reality, not least through the creation of a reference to the historical person of Ibn Sina and through precise location information; The script and film contain more fictional elements than the original:
- The historical person of Ibn Sina is placed in a political-religious context, without reference to historically transmitted reality. He did not commit suicide in his burning library, as shown in the film, but died in June 1037 at the age of 57, either of dysentery or colon cancer.
- Isfahan was not besieged by the Seljuks until 1047 and 1050 after Shah Ala ad-Daula Muhammad died in 1041.
- No plague raged between the 8th and 13th centuries, that is, also in the times of historical Avicenna .
- In the final picture , London is shown with the tower . The tower was only built after the Norman conquest . The stone-built core castle (White Tower) was not built until 1080, decades after Rob Cole's fictional return to England, which was then still Anglo-Saxon .
production
Wolf Bauer and Nico Hofmann were the producers behind the major project. It was a German production with its headquarters in Babelsberg -based UFA Cinema in co-production with ARD Degeto and Beta Cinema. The executive producer was Sebastian Werninger, the producer is Ulrich Schwarz. Christine Strobl was co-producer (ARD Degeto), the editing was done by Roman Klink (ARD Degeto). The film adaptation of Der Medicus was funded by the Deutscher Filmförderfonds , Film- und Medienstiftung NRW , Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA) and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg .
Wolf Bauer and Nico Hofmann said about the production: “We see Der Medicus in the tradition of major European productions such as ' Das Geisterhaus ', ' Der Name der Rose ', ' Das Parfüm ' or ' Die Päpessin '. The book is one of the last unfilmed big mega-sellers of our time and not only the template for an emotional and great adventure film, but also a modern plea for peaceful coexistence and religious tolerance. We are very pleased that with Philipp Stölzl we have been able to engage one of the best German directors and guarantors for a large-format and opulent cinematic implementation for the film and are sure that a film will come about with him, the strong international cast and his wonderful team , which is in no way inferior to the exciting and visually stunning novel and which will delight viewers worldwide. "
Thomas Oláh was responsible for the costumes and Heike Merker for the mask .
The shooting lasted around 60 days in Cologne studios as well as with outdoor shots in Saxony-Anhalt , Thuringia and Morocco .
For the lavish studio shooting, the Shah's Palace and the hospital in Isfahan, Persia, were recreated in the halls of the MMC Studios in Cologne .
England in the 11th century emerged in central Germany : Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, with cities and landscapes around Hanstein Castle in Eichsfeld , Heilbad Heiligenstadt , Quedlinburg , Upper Harz am Brocken (Elbingerode) , Querfurt and Timmenrode, offered excellent medieval backdrops. German landscapes like the Harz were transformed into an English field and coastal landscape.
Outdoor recordings in on-site film sets and original locations in the Sahara and in the Moroccan film city of Ouarzazate complete the images of the oriental world. In addition, the special effects company Pixomondo produced the Persian city of Isfahan in post-production for the epic based on the novel, as well as other visual effects for scenes in the locations in England, Egypt and in the desert.
The film music by composer Ingo Ludwig Frenzel was recorded by the Babelsberg German Film Orchestra .
synchronization
The German-language dubbing of the film was made at Film- & Fernseh-Synchron in Berlin. The dialogue book was written by Michael Schlimgen, and the dialogue was directed by Christoph Cierpka.
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reception
spectator
The Medicus was a great success in Germany. After a good start on December 25, 2013, the film made it to number 1 in the German cinema charts with 640,000 visitors on the second cinema weekend. In 2013, 1,117,458 visitors were counted at the German box office nationwide, making the film 30th among the most visited films of the year. In total, Der Medicus reached three million viewers at the end of January 2014. With production costs of 26 million euros, 42.2 million dollars were brought in in Germany.
Reviews
“Director Philipp Stölzl faced the great challenge of a worthy cinematic implementation of Noah Gordon's world bestseller and mastered the task with flying colors. Great emotions, inspiring landscape panoramas, a splendid interior and a rousing score create a sensual and epic atmosphere, which is also redeemed by the performances of the great actors. German and international stars such as Fahri Yardim, Elyas M'Barek, Ben Kingsley and Stellan Skaarsgaard embody their roles credibly and coherently. In the lead role, Tom Payne is the ideal cast of the title hero, whom the viewer follows into a strange, fascinating world. With DER MEDICUS, Philipp Stölzl has succeeded in making a huge epic film adaptation that can compete with international productions. An opulent canvas experience. "
“There is a reason why the film falls so strongly into episodes and reduces the literary epic to two or three catchy constellations and conflicts - Kingsley's Sina as a man of the Enlightenment, fundamentalist hordes, the young love. “Der Medicus” was co-produced by the ARD company Degeto, among others: One suspects that the unquestionably beautiful film in the cinema is only a fragment and that Christmas 2014 will probably be followed by a television broadcast as a multi-part event. Perhaps "The Medicus" makes more sense and more fun. "
“Stölzl works out the conflict between scientific and religious claims to truth in the conventional good-evil scheme and thus presses the historical material a little too clearly into the anti-fundamentalist thought formats of the post-nine-eleven era. On the other hand, there is the open cinematic commitment to escapism, with which 'The Medicus' is based on classics such as 'Lawrence of Arabia'. "
“The adaptation of the bestseller“ The Medicus ”proves that visually stunning historical films that tell of a classic hero's journey are also possible outside the Hollywood industry . But Philipp Stölzl's medieval epic does not advance to an outstanding genre contribution despite impressive show values and predominantly convincing actors. "
“Stölzl has interlinked the various plot elements and motifs, which are often unconnected in the novel, much more closely. His “Medicus” offers not only opulent show values, but also an arc of storyline that charges the sober narrative style of the book with tension and emotions. [...] The plot now seems much more plausible. [...] In atmospherically captivating images he brings the archaic reality of life of the dark Middle Ages to life. [...] Stölzl not only condensed the epic plot in a meaningful way, he also found a convincing, almost unknown leading actor in Tom Payne, whose mission the audience follows. The greatest cast coup, however, was successful with Ben Kingsley in the role of the wise Ibn Sina. [...] With “Der Medicus”, producer Nico Hofmann (“Der Turm”) wanted to prove that monumental world-class cinema is also possible in Germany. He succeeded in doing this in an impressive way. "
Awards
- 2014: Bogey Awards : one bogey in silver for 2 million visitors within 20 days and two bogeys for more than 1000 visitors per copy on the starting weekend and 1 million visitors in 10 days
- 2014: Golden screen for 3 million visitors
Web links
- The Medicus in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- UFA Cinema filmed the bestseller DER MEDICUS, directed by Philipp Stölzl
- Making of video about set design and visual effects during the shooting of "The Medicus"
- Expert opinion of the German film and media rating
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for The Medicus . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , December 2013 (PDF; test number: 141 674 K).
- ↑ Age rating for Der Medicus . Youth Media Commission .
- ↑ http://www.ffa.de/download.php?f=d430412de266c75dd47d2bfc9b22f1a7&target=0 FFA funding 2016
- ↑ http://www.stern.de/kultur/buecher/noah-gordon-im-interview-schreiben-war-eigentlich-immer-folter-2078844.html Interview with Gordon on the occasion of the premiere of the film Medicus
- ^ Gotthard Strohmaier: Avicenna
- ↑ Genome of the Black Death completely reconstructed (PDF; 861 kB), press release of the University of Tübingen, October 12, 2011. A draft genome of Yersinia pestis from victims of the Black Death, doi : 10.1038 / nature10549
- ↑ Medicus special: Making of ( Memento of the original from January 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , www.filmstiftung.de/medicus-special/der-medicus-making-of, accessed on January 8, 2014 (videos no longer available)
- ↑ The Medicus, featurette "The Production"
- ↑ tlz: Der Medicus: Shooting in Eichsfeld starts at the end of June , www.tlz.de, accessed on January 8, 2014
- ↑ Shooting for “Medicus” in Elbingerode , RFH aktuell , www.youtube.com, RFH aktuell broadcast published on July 18, 2012, accessed on January 8, 2014
- ↑ Visual Effects - The Creation of Medieval Worlds ( Memento of the original from January 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , vimeo.com via www.filmstiftung.de/medicus-special/der-medicus-making-of, accessed on January 8, 2014 (page no longer available)
- ↑ Scoring Stage, credits on filmorchester.de. Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg, accessed on May 12, 2018 .
- ^ Synchronous database : The Medicus. In: German synchronous card index . Retrieved January 4, 2020 .
- ↑ KINOaktuell: What you wanted: Münster's cinema year 2013, C. Lou Lloyd, Filminfo No. 4, January 23-29, 2014, p. 24f
- ↑ a b Golden canvas for the "Medicus" ( Memento of the original from February 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at filmecho.de, accessed on February 3, 2014
- ↑ '"The Medicus" is shot in the Harz Mountains' , focus.de
- ↑ 'The Physician' , boxofficemojo.com
- ↑ Film review for “The Medicus” by the FBW Filmbewertungsstelle www.fbw-filmbeval.com. Retrieved January 8, 2014 .
- ↑ Film review for “The Medicus” on berliner-zeitung.de. Retrieved January 28, 2014 .
- ↑ Martin Schwickert: Doctors across borders. In: Culture. Der Tagesspiegel, December 31, 2013, accessed on December 31, 2013 .
- ↑ Film review of "The Medicus" on Spielfilm.de. Retrieved December 19, 2013 .
- ↑ Film review of "The Medicus" on Cinema.de. Retrieved January 8, 2014 .
- ↑ Der Medicus: Grandiose cinema release at ufa.de, accessed on January 14, 2014
