The Sea Wolf (2009)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The sea wolf |
| Original title | Sea wolf |
| Country of production | Germany , USA |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2009 |
| length | 174 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Mike Barker |
| script | Nigel Williams |
| production |
Herbert Kloiber Rikolt von Gagern |
| music | Richard G. Mitchell |
| camera | Richard Greatrex |
| cut | Dean Soltys |
| occupation | |
| |
Der Seewolf is the title of a two-part TV series based on the novel Der Seewolf by Jack London , produced by Tele München Gruppe , Clasart Film and Gate Film in cooperation with ZDF , ORF and the US RHI Entertainment .
action
San Francisco 1902: Captain Wolf Larsen, known as the sea wolf because of his hardness , is looking for a crew for his schooner Ghost , with which he wants to go to seal hunt off the coast of Japan . However, this is not an easy undertaking as it is more than feared. His brother Death Larsen also makes his way to the seal fishing grounds with the steamboat Macedonia . On board is the pretty writer Maud Brewster as a passenger who flees under a false name from her father, the owner of the Macedonia , because he wants to force her into a money marriage. The literary critic Humphrey van Weyden is on the Martinez ferry with a friend at the same time as he goes overboard due to an incident. A short time later he is rescued by the departing Ghost . But Wolf Larsen does not think of bringing him back on land and forces him to work as a galley boy on the ship. Humphrey often has to endure the taunts of the cook Mugridge.
Meanwhile, Maud Brewster learns more and more about him in many conversations with Death Larsen. Death hates his brother Wolf and fights against him for the coveted seal fishing grounds. Meanwhile, the young van Weyden has to assert himself in the tough world of sailors, but Wolf Larsen is his greatest opponent. The two fight numerous words, during which Humphrey learns more and more about Larsen's character.
After Larsen wins the money that Humphrey had stolen from the ship's cook Mugridge in a card game, the greasy cook wants to frighten Humphrey by sharpening his knife in revenge. But Humphrey, now called Hump by almost everyone , does not allow himself to be intimidated and starts a knife fight with the cook. Van Weyden not only wins the fight, but also a certain respect from his shipmates. Some time later, the sailor Johnson was beaten almost to death by Larsen and the helmsman in front of Humphrey's eyes, as Johnson had complained about the condition of some of the ropes. As they carry the seriously injured mate on deck, Wolf is insulted to the last by young Leach, who is Johnson's best friend. He then injured Mugridge with a knife after he made a condescending remark. The crew mutinied during the night. First they throw the helmsman Johansson overboard and then attack Wolf Larsen, but the mutiny fails. With Johansson's loss, the inexperienced galley boy Humphrey is promoted to the new helmsman. Despite initial problems, he holds up well and begins to assert himself against the rough sailors on the Ghost .
After the Ghost had reached the seal fishing grounds off the Macedonia and had some successes, she got caught in a severe storm in which three men of the crew went overboard.
At the same time, Maud Death has to reveal her true identity. The crippled captain orders the sailor Johnny to kill her, but this Maud helps Maud to flee from the Macedonia in a dinghy. Meanwhile, Leach and Johnson try to escape the captain's merciless fist and, with the help of Humphreys, flee the Ghost . When Larsen noticed the escape the next morning, he did everything in his power to find the two who had fled. After a short time they spot a small boat, but it is van Weyden's completely exhausted friend Maud Brewster. While she recovers from her difficult journey below deck, the ship catches up with the two escaped Leach and Johnson. But instead of taking them back on board, Larsen leaves the two sailors to drown in their already leaking boat on the open sea.
Maud begins to fascinate Larsen and Humphrey at the same time. Larsen begins to involve her in conversations about literature in order to get closer to her, but she feels more drawn to van Weyden, even if she does not admit it. When the Ghost encounters another swarm of seals, it comes together with the Macedonia. Death, who owns the faster ship, snatches the seals from under his brother's nose. Completely angry about this, Wolf shoots some of the Macedonia sailors , flees into a fog bank and thus escapes his brother at the last second. However, the cook Mugridge is hit by a bullet in the arm during the shooting.
During the night Wolf tries to rape Maud, but Humphrey can intervene. When Larsen straightened up again, he collapsed suffering from a severe headache. Van Weyden helps him and then convinces Maud to flee the Ghost in a dinghy . While the two are floating at sea, the crew of the Ghost mutinies and surrenders their captain to his brother. After rummaging through Wolf's cabin and stumbling upon a picture of her childhood, Death Larsen leaves the now blind wolf on the Ghost and drives on with his crew in search of more seals.
Meanwhile, Humphrey and Maud are stranded on a desert island. One morning van Weyden discovers the stranded Ghost and her blind captain. Wolf Larsen refuses to let Humphrey and Maud take over the ship when they tell him about their plan to make it seaworthy again. Despite his blindness, both fear the dangerous captain, which is why Humphrey always has a gun pointed at him. But by a trick Larsen manages to overwhelm him. Just before Larsen can strangle Humphrey, Maud intervenes and saves van Weyden. Then they chain Larsen in his cabin . In his hopeless situation, Wolf begins to reveal the secret about him and his brother. The father of the two hated Death for being crippled, which is why he preferred Wolf. One day Death came to Wolf with a knife, slit his own face and then claimed that it was his brother who got all the love he wanted. But Wolf would never have denied the lie. Shortly afterwards, Wolf Larsen dies of a brain tumor that caused the headache and blindness. Humphrey and Maud manage to make the Ghost seaworthy again and bury Larsen on the high seas. After getting closer, they are rescued by another ship.
background
The 12 million euro production was shot in Halifax / Canada.
The schooner, which is Wolf Larsen's Ghost in the film , is a real sailing schooner from 1924 and was specially converted for production.
During a dangerous shot, cameraman Richard Greatrex sat down on the bowsprit of the ship, against the will of the director, to shoot a close-up with the main actor Sebastian Koch.
For the storm sequence, a large container was built with an exact replica of the deck of the Ghost , on the sides of which liters of water were washed onto the actors.
A scene in which Sebastian Koch slaughtered a real seal got a lot of attention. This recording caused great consternation among animal rights activists.
Differences to the novel
Wolf Larsen's brother, Death Larsen, is only mentioned in the novel. In the film, however, he is a main character.
In the novel, Maud Brewster is on a Japanese cruiser who sinks during the crossing, whereupon she is rescued in a lifeboat by the Ghost . In the film, on the other hand, she is forced into a monetary marriage and escapes under a false name to the Macedonia , her father's ship, whose captain is Death Larsen. When Death learns her true identity, she escapes in a boat and is later picked up by the Ghost .
In the novel, the conflict between the two Larsen brothers is mentioned only in passing, while in the film it is of great importance.
In the novel, the ship's cook Mugridge is dragged behind the ship on a rope as punishment for his messiness, and his right foot is bitten off by a shark. In the film adaptation, however, instead of the shark attack during the shooting between the Ghost and the Macedonia, he is shot in the arm.
In the film, Humphrey van Weyden goes overboard of the Martinez ferry due to an incident . In the novel, however, the ship collides with another ferry and sinks, whereupon Van Weyden is driven out to sea.
reception
Audience ratings
The audience ratings for the first part were 3.89 million viewers when it was first broadcast on ZDF on Sunday, November 1st, 2009, and that of the second part on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 was 3.21 million viewers and had a market share of 10 ,1 %. The program remained under the audience cut of the ZDF. In Austria, the second part on ORF2 reached 413,000 viewers on November 4, 2009 and a market share of 16.0 percent.
criticism
In Die Welt, Peter Zander compared the ZDF Seewolf with the ProSieben version broadcast a year earlier: “After the extroverted action version, it is now sensitive soul shoveling. This wins its drama far more sustainably through the intense play of its actors and a finer script, but it cannot make the Kretschmann- Larsen completely forget. "
The West praised the acting, especially Sebastian Koch as captain Wolf Larsen.
The remake fell through in the criticism of the Spiegel . Rainer Tittelbach was enthusiastic.
Awards
- 2010
- Nomination for the Adolf Grimme Prize in the fiction / series & multi-part category
- Nomination for the International Emmy Award in the category Best Actor for Sebastian Koch
literature
- Jack London: The Sea Wolf. from the English by Erwin Magnus (1926). Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-423-08620-2 .
Purchase publications
On November 5, 2009, the two-parter was released on DVD and Blu-ray.
Web links
- Official website for the ZDF film
- Video clips for the schooner Alabama - schooner Ghost in 'Der Seewolf'
- The Sea Wolf in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.bild.de/BILD/unterhaltung/TV/2009/11/02/der-seewolf/sebastian-koch-schlachten-einen-echten-seehund.html
- ^ ZDF "Seewolf" was not a hit either ,quotemeter.de, accessed on August 2, 2010.
- ↑ Primetime check: Wednesday, November 4, 2009 ,quotemeter.de, accessed on August 2, 2010.
- ↑ 443,000 for "Bauer sucht Frau" , derStandard.at of November 5, 2009.
- ↑ The new "Seewolf" is like Freud for Beginners , Welt, October 30, 2009.
- ↑ The Sea Wolf: Sebastian Koch shines as Captain Larsen , Der Westen from October 30, 2010.
- ^ Daniel Haas: "The Sea Wolf" on ZDF: Slackers instead of potato pusher Der Spiegel , November 1, 2009
- ↑ Sebastian Koch is the best "sea wolf" of all time: pity for the beast! tittelbach.tv, accessed on December 27, 2016
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2009 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.
