The dragon's gray breath
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The dragon's gray breath |
| Country of production | GDR |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1979 |
| length | 85 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Horst E. Brandt |
| script | Horst E. Brandt |
| production |
DEFA on behalf of the television of the GDR |
| music | Günter Hörig |
| camera | Horst Hardt |
| cut | Karin Kusche |
| occupation | |
| |
The dragon gray breath is commissioned by the television of the GDR produced TV movie of the DEFA of Horst E. Brandt from the year 1979 based on the novel by Harry Thürk from the year 1975th
action
As a member of an international commission for the fight against drug trafficking, based in the USA, the Swiss professor Wilkers is commissioned to investigate the origin of the drugs which he seeks to combat abuse. But already in Bangkok, the starting point of his research, he encounters extreme contradictions. Solving them appeals to the Swiss physician, since the claims of the rich silk manufacturer Tracy Blake sound real and bitter, but also extremely strange. Through Mr. Blake, he also met a young scientist from a village in the mountains on the border with Burma. He is working in Bangkok on his doctoral thesis on the cultivation of crops such as tea and rice to replace the monoculture of poppy seeds for the production of drugs. Leo Wilkers also learns from him that the forbidden cultivation of drugs is the only chance of survival for poor mountain farmers and that even his studies were financed by his father's poppy cultivation. What Wilkers does not notice, however, is the constant observation by a Mister Warren and his helpers, who have not let him out of their sight since landing at the airport.
The professor decides to undertake a life-threatening undertaking. He moves to the notorious "Golden Triangle" in northern Thailand, to the origin of drugs, in the village of Muong Nan, whose head is at the same time in prison in Bangkok racking his brain about who in the capital might be interested in his arrest. On the way to the mountains, Mr. Wilkers is informed by the shady Captain Chao that his activities are dealing with a powerful organization run by the military, which under no circumstances will let its business be spoiled. When he arrives in the village, he is welcomed and looked after by the captive mayor's partner. Here he can watch an American military plane land and the pilots load ten sacks of drugs to bring them to Bangkok. This time everything is different than usual, because the pilots want to keep the opium for themselves. This also requires killing the farmer by simply throwing him off the plane. They dump the opium over a lake, where combat swimmers are ready to pick up the sacks. In Bangkok, the pilots tell Mr. Warren that the chief's representative has already sold the drug elsewhere. To get out of prison, the mayor is forced to sign a declaration that he will only deliver the entire harvest to Mister Warren.
In the meantime there has been a revolution in Thailand, in which the young scientist who has now also received his doctorate was involved. Once in his village, he works to implement his ideas. In order to achieve this he was also appointed as the new village head. His predecessor uncovered the connections with the disappearance of his partner and he seeks revenge. Since the payment for the drug is almost always in the form of weapons and ammunition, which the farmers sell to the military on the other side of the border, he can be given some explosives including a time fuse. He installs this in the cockpit before the aircraft takes off and sets the detonator to a time that is above the jungle during the flight.
Leo Wilkers can now prove the distribution channels of the opium and is on his way back to Bangkok. Since Mr. Warren has to prevent the truth from coming to light and the involvement with the CIA is not known, he pulls out all the stops to kill the professor. Fortunately, this was saved and reported its results to the commission.
By the way: "The dragon's gray breath" is the Thai term for drugs.
production
The author of the novel, Harry Thürk, also wrote the scenario. The exterior shots of the film shot on ORWO -Color were made in Yalta in Crimea and in Uzbekistan . A preview was shown on January 21, 1979 in the Capitol film theater in Berlin-Adlershof. The first broadcast took place on June 3, 1979 in the first program of the television of the GDR.
criticism
Henryk Goldberg said in the daily newspaper Neues Deutschland : “The considerable amount of factual information conveyed by the film was not supported by a corresponding fable and so often appeared as an element that became independent.” Mimosa Künzel writes in the Neue Zeit that Harry Thürks is newer Crime in the staging by Horst E. Brandt greatly simplified and as made for children or the often quoted Lieschen Müller proved. Only the landscape was impressive and a few interesting "Far Eastern" faces; otherwise it was a film with a lot of effort and little success. Volker Weidhaas says in the Berliner Zeitung that the narrative is hardly exciting. No thrill through the charm of the enigmatic, no tension through unexpected dramatic twists and turns. Not unproblematic is the figure of the scientist who at the end of his mission recognizes the impotence of his organization in the face of the CIA's omnipotence, but with a naive academic spirit pays homage to the myth of bourgeois journalism.
Web links
- The dragon gray breath in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The dragon's gray breath at filmportal.de