The Sea Wolf (2008)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The sea wolf |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 2008 |
| length | 180 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Christoph Schrewe |
| script | Holger Karsten Schmidt |
| production |
Philip Voges Alban Rehnitz |
| music | Marcel Barsotti |
| camera | Mathias Neumann |
| cut | Antonia Fenn |
| occupation | |
| |
The Sea Wolf is the title of a 2008 television film based on the famous 1904 novel The Sea Wolf by Jack London . The film was co-produced by ProSieben and first broadcast as a two-part on November 24 and 25, 2008. The shooting took place in Berlin and the Bahamas . The main roles are played by Thomas Kretschmann as Wolf Larsen, Florian Stetter as Humphrey van Weyden and Petra Schmidt-Schaller as Maud Brewster. The director Christoph Schrewe describes his film as a "Western on the water".
action
At the beginning of the 20th century: The shipwrecked esthete and humanist Humphrey van Weyden drifts off San Francisco in the Pacific and is rescued by a sealer ship, a schooner named Ghost . On board, he immediately met the imperious captain Wolf Larsen. He rules his team with ruthless brutality and leads a ruthless regime. Larsen is not only physically strong, but also highly intelligent and educated and lives according to a social Darwinian philosophy. His crew is mostly made up of thieves, robbers and murderers.
Larsen refuses to bring van Weyden back ashore immediately, forcing him to become a member of his crew, although he despises van Weyden for his initial weakness and effeminacy, but above all for his morals , which he believes are ingrained in society. Van Weyden quickly notices that the captain is not a brainless thug, but also an intellectual, and has many arguments with him, as he is not only disgusted by Larsen, but also fascinated in certain ways. Often Humphrey has to endure the teasing of the greasy Smutjes Mugridge, who steals him 185 dollars, but learns, as Larsen told him, "to stand on his own two feet". One day the Swede Johnson is beaten almost to death over a complaint from Larsen and the helmsman, and Mugridge is beaten up by Leach for stabbing him in the arm some time ago. A few nights later the crew tries to mutiny, the helmsman being thrown overboard and Larsen being bloodily beaten. While Humphrey is treating him, Larsen promotes the galley boy van Weyden to the helm. Larsen observes with satisfaction the change in van Weyden, which life on the ship seems to harden.
After a severe sea storm, the sailors Leach and Johnson flee in a fishing boat. Larsen does everything in his power to pursue them. During the chase, the Ghost picks up more castaways, including the writer Maud Brewster. As Leach and Johnson are finally caught, Wolf Larsen cut their rowing boat with the bow of the Ghost and allows them to die at sea back. Van Weyden is appalled by this, as he had in a certain way made friends with the two refugees beforehand and was informed of their escape plans. His own escape, however, seems impossible to him, as the next mainland, Japan, is around 700 nautical miles.
Maud Brewster does not seem averse to Larsen's charm, who has cast an eye on her, but also flirts with Humphrey. As the cook Mugridge of Larsen and the crew for a trifle careened is thereby losing by a shark attack a leg, her picture of Larsen converts. A short time later the Ghost meets seals. However, Larsen's brother, who owns the steamboat Macedonia , is also after the herd. After the Ghost starts a shootout with the Macedonia , they have to flee into a smoke screen. You manage to shake off Larsen's brother. Larsen tries to rape Maud that night, but Humphrey intervenes and saves her. After this incident, they both decide to flee to Yokohama at night in one of the fishing boats.
After some time at sea, they come to a small, uninhabited island, where they initially stay. One morning, however, Humphrey discovered the stranded Ghost there . Armed he explores the ship and only meets the chained Larsen. The Ghost was boarded from the Macedonia and abandoned its captain. A conflict arises as to how to proceed with Larsen: He refuses to provide his ship for the journey to Japan. Larsen explains that his severe headache, which has plagued him at intervals for a long time, is due to a tumor that is gradually robbing him of his eyesight.
While Maud and Humphrey try to make the ship seaworthy again, the chained Larsen manages to free himself and attacks van Weyden, who shoots him with his rifle. Nevertheless, the stronger Larsen wins the upper hand and tries to strangle van Weyden with a chain. Maud hastily enters the cabin and fires at Larsen, who goes down, but continues to threaten van Weyden with death. He gives Humphrey, standing with a raised weapon, the choice of either killing him and thus following his instincts, or remaining true to his morals and being killed himself for it. Before Humphrey comes to a decision, Larsen is bleeding to death from his wound. Maud and Humphrey, who have grown closer in the meantime, get the ship seaworthy again and set off on the voyage to Japan. They bury Larsen's body on the high seas. Shortly afterwards they are rescued by a Japanese steamer.
background
Differences from the novel
Holger Karsten Schmidt's script remains much closer to the novel than the other film adaptations of the material made for German television, the ZDF four-part series from 1971 and the ZDF two-part series from 2009 . The deviations from the template include:
- The Swedish sailor Johansson is actually called Johnson and is sometimes addressed in the film as Johansson and Johnson .
- Wolf Larsen dies in the novel of his brain tumor and does not bleed to death from his wound.
- He is also completely blind at the end.
production
The production costs of the film produced by Hofmann & Voges were around 7 million euros. For three months, from April to July 2008, the film was shot in the Bahamas. For the production of the high seas scenes, the sailing ship, controlled by an experienced crew, went on day trips out to sea with the film team on board. Numerous actors suffered from seasickness during the filming, which is why more than 250 pills were issued for nausea. Up to 120 people were involved in shooting the storm scenes. The seals shown during the hunting scenes are partly computer animations , partly stuffed animals.
The interior shots of the ship were made during four weeks of filming in Berlin film studios. There, the lower deck was recreated on a swiveling frame that could be moved by workers to simulate the swell.
Competing remake of the ZDF
Almost at the same time as this ProSieben film adaptation of the sea wolf material, another film version of the novel was made for ZDF with Sebastian Koch in the role of Wolf Larsen with a budget that was twice as high . The production company Tele München failed with the attempt to have the ProSieben version legally forbidding the use of the film title Der Seewolf . The ZDF delayed the broadcast of its own sea wolf remake and only broadcast it almost a year after the ProSieben version, see article Der Seewolf (2009) . As with ProSieben, audience interest at ZDF fell short of expectations.
DVD release
The DVD of the film was released on November 28, 2008 by Koch Media as a set with two DVDs, the first disc containing both film episodes, the second including extras : outtakes (8:34 min), a making-of (25:30 min ) and removed scenes (9:12 min).
reception
In the public perception, the ProSieben film adaptation had to assert itself against the ZDF four-part series from 1971 . This most-shown German television film of all time is often referred to as the "original", although it merges several Jack London books into a plot and was not the first film adaptation of the material. The critics were particularly interested in comparing Thomas Kretschmann with the then leading actor Raimund Harmstorf , whose portrayal of Wolf Larsen was significantly important for the success of the film and for his own career. The scene in which Larsen crushes a raw potato with one hand in order to intimidate van Weyden with this show of strength has been legendary since the 1971 film adaptation. Numerous media representatives were delighted that this scene also found its way into this remake.
The television magazine rtv describes Schrewes Film as "one of the most spectacular German adventure and love films of recent years" . On the occasion of the first broadcast, “Der Seewolf” and Petra Schmidt-Schaller were the front pages of issue 47/2008 as the cover picture .
Audience ratings
The ratings for the first broadcast on Monday and Tuesday evening programs were disappointing for ProSieben. The first part reached a rate of 6.8 percent with almost 2.2 million viewers, the second part was 1.97 million viewers and 6.2 percent. Among the 14 to 49 year olds, Part 1 had 1.24 million viewers and a 9.5 percent market share, Part 2 had 1.06 million viewers and 8 percent market share.
Reviews
Joachim Hirzel from Focus praises the film as a “water work with depth” and “staged like a chamber play” . In addition, the film is "dense and intense" .
Antje Harders from the Süddeutsche Zeitung writes of an "excellent Thomas Kretschmann and sophisticated dialogues" . She also praises the fact that the film is “not a mere action spectacle with sharks, murder and mutiny” , but “a sensitively played chamber play at sea” . She is also pleased with the “sophisticated philosophical dialogues and touching old-fashioned language” . Compared to Raimund Harmstorf, Kretschmann's interpretation as Larsen is "more mature, more composed and somehow depressed".
In the Tagesspiegel , Markus Ehrenberg calls the film “the best, exciting, sophisticated entertainment. A television event at the end of the year, and since Schopenhauer and Shakespeare are quoted after a few minutes, it should be noted: Attention, this is quality television too. "
Awards
In 2009, Antonia Fenn was nominated for the German Television Award in the Best Editing category for her work on Der Seewolf .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b rtv No. 47/2008, p. 4, available online ( memento of the original dated December 29, 2008 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. , accessed on December 1, 2008.
- ↑ a b This time the tuber is raw ( Memento of the original from May 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , sueddeutsche.de, queried on November 26, 2008.
- ↑ Making-of for the film on the Seewolf DVD
- ↑ "The Sea Wolf" comes back - twice , Die Welt from August 22, 2008.
- ↑ Oberlandesgericht München 29 U 4978/08, judgment of April 30, 2009, published in GRUR 2009 page 307
- ↑ Sea Wolf 2008: Off to the shredder! ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , BZ of November 17, 2008.
- ↑ Peter Luley: TV event "Der Seewolf": The one yawning with the wolf. In: Spiegel Online . November 24, 2008. Retrieved June 9, 2018 .
- ↑ Spiegel , No. 48 (November 24, 2008), p. 83.
- ↑ Pro Sieben disappointed with the weak "Seewolf" quota ( memento of the original from December 5, 2008 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. , digitalfernsehen.de, November 26, 2008.
- ↑ Joachim Hirzel: "The Sea Wolf": The devil on board. In: Focus Online . November 25, 2008. Retrieved October 14, 2018 .
- ^ The Will Breaker , accessed December 13, 2009.
Web links
- The Sea Wolf in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Press folder "The Sea Wolf" , (PDF; 2.4 MB)