The dumb one

Movie
Original title	The dumb one
Country of production	Switzerland
original language	German
Publishing year	1976
length	110 minutes
Rod
Director	Gaudenz Meili
script	Gaudenz Meili
production	Ciné-Group , Bernhard Lang
music	Jonas C. Haefeli
camera	Pio Corradi
cut	Eveline Brombacher
occupation
Wolf Kaiser : Ferro, the father Hanna Schygulla : Martha Uli Krohm : Loth (as an adult) Philipp Egli: Loth (as a child) Günter Lamprecht : Kahlmann Franz Mosthav : Breitenstein Ingold Wildenauer: Samuel Klaus Knuth : Sweeper François Berthet: Chavaz Roberto Colombo: Filippis Rosalinde Renn : mother Josef Friedrich : Grimm Edgar Wenzel : Home Jürgen Cziesla : Borer Hans Gaugler : Muralt Andreas Meili: Pelerine boy Richard Vogel: prison guard

The Mute is the title of a feature film based on the novel by Otto F. Walter . Gaudenz Meili directed the 1976 German-Rhaeto-Romanic co-production by Swiss television DRS .

action

A mute unskilled worker, who in his youth had to see his father killing his mother in emotion, and who lost his speech in this shock, is looking for this father as an adult - and finds him with a construction team on a lonely road construction site in the Jura.

“In the raging storm, a thousand meters high in the forests of the Swiss Jura, the story of the silent boy Lothar Ferro, known as Loth, begins. He came there as an unskilled worker to a road construction site where twelve men are already working who live together in a barrack. One of the twelve is Loth's father; after many years in prison he does not recognize the grown up son. This father is to blame that Loth's mother died and the boy lost speech. When he finally finds his language again, his first word is: "Father". "

- Ruth Herrmann, Die Zeit

criticism

“ Gaudenz Meili has retained the character of the“ development novel ”, which first defines the quality of his adaptation. The temptation would have been great to tell the story in a straight line as a story that takes place on a workplace, a remote construction site, between workers. Then, however, the film would have become a mere naturalistic portrait of human fates. Its quality, however, consists precisely in the fact that it maintains the difficult balance between the psychological and the sociological aspects of work from Otto F. Walter's story. "

- Martin Schlappner , Neue Zürcher Zeitung (1976)

"The quality of Meili's scenic implementation lies in the fact that the balance between the psychological aspects and the excitingly exciting moments of action is preserved."

- FF included (1977)

“The film uses the flashback technique, makes motifs and attitudes clear and changes the end of the novel: It is not the final, death, but the search for a way that gives the viewer the option of their own thoughts. In Pio Corradi's camera, the Swiss mountains become an element of the plot, as are the close and large shots of the faces of Wolf Kaiser, Uli Krohm, Hanna Schygulla and Günther Lamprecht. "

- Film mirror (1977)

"In the adaptation of the novel 'Der Stumme' based on Otto F. Walter, directed by Gaudenz Meili , Wolf Kaiser is convincing alongside Hanna Schygulla in a character role."

- Thomas Beutelschmidt, Franziska Widmer (1992)

“By discovering the narrative technique of flashbacks in the structure of the novel, as it had long since spread from film to literature, Meili gained in this, his first feature film, a functioning basic dramaturgical pattern of narration on two levels. With them, all in all, a balance was established between work reality (in the quarry) and the inwardness of the mute, whose memories are shown in the perspective of the subjective camera. "

- Martin Schlappner , Neue Zürcher Zeitung (1994)

“We were all fascinated by the density of the language and the tragic plot. It is amazing how important scenes were reproduced word for word, gesture after gesture in the film. The film impressively represents a whole. "

- Reading circle from the parish of Männedorf-Uetikon am See (2013)

background

In 1973, the Swiss television DRS invited Swiss filmmakers to submit proposals for filming epic works of Swiss literature. 42 interested parties submitted 112 project outlines. 17 projects were admitted to the second round, and based on the treatments, seven script assignments were ultimately given. An editing committee finally selected three scripts, based on which the films were then made at a total cost of 2.25 million Swiss francs. Of the three films, “The Mute” is the first to be seen on screen. (DRS, October 13, 1976)
The premiere took place in August 1976 at the Locarno Film Festival .

Web links

• Streaming on artfilm.ch
• The dumb in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Film service
• Website by Gaudenz Meili
• The mute in Movies.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ruth Herrmann, Otto F. Walter: "Der Stumme", Zeit Online http://www.zeit.de/1959/41/otto-fwalter-der-stumme
2. ↑ Martin Schlappner , “The Dumb One” - Working World and Innerity, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, October 15, 1976, p. 47.
3. ^ FF included, March 15, 1977, p. 21.
4. ^ Film Spiegel, April 1977.
5. ↑ Thomas Beutelschmidt, Franziska Widmer: Between the chairs, Leipziger Universitätsverlag 2005, p. 92.
6. ^ Martin Schlappner , Otto F. Walter and der Schweizer Film, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, September 28, 1994, p. 46.
7. ↑ http://www.kath-maennedorf-uetikon.ch/bildung-kultur/publikationen/pdf-older/chile-poscht-februar-2013
8. ↑ Press release Swiss television DRS, on the competition “Epic Swiss Literature” PDF
9. ↑ Martin Schlappner , “The Dumb One” - Working World and Innerity, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, October 15, 1976, page 47.
10. ↑ Press release Schweizer Fernsehen DRS, “Der Stumme” is broadcast, October 13, 1976 PDF