The Borgward affair

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title The Borgward affair
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 2018
Rod
Director Marcus O. Rosenmüller
script Marcus O. Rosenmüller
production Dagmar Rosenbauer
music Martin Stock
camera Stefan Spreer
cut Claudia Klook
occupation

The Affair Borgward is a German television film by director Marcus O. Rosenmüller , which was first broadcast on January 7, 2019 on Das Erste . The film shows the circumstances of the demise of Carl FW Borgward GmbH Automobil- und Motoren-Werke in Bremen in 1961.

action

In 1959 a new “ Arabella ” model from the car manufacturer Borgward is tested. Although everything is going well, there is a small defect that the employee Alfred Linden does not report. He thinks it is just an assembly error that will be fixed immediately. He doesn't want to worry the company owner Carl FW Borgward with such little things, because financial problems are currently the order of the day. The up-and-coming automotive industry at home and abroad is causing initial sales losses. The managing director Otto Carstens therefore makes sensible suggestions to his boss to merge their three parts of the company in order to reduce the basic costs. But Carl Borgward doesn't want to hear about it. He wants to remain independent at all costs and certainly not to merge with other companies. His company, which has been successful over the years, which began in 1924 with the construction of the open three-wheeled “ Blitzkarren ” and the “ Goliath Pionier ” three- wheeled passenger car, is now the third largest car company in Germany. After the war, he managed to build up his destroyed production halls on his own. The increasing demand for his cars helped him build one plant after another. His workers were allowed to use cars or motorcycles for free on the weekend, which helped to consolidate their bond with Borgward.

On his 70th birthday, Carl FW Borgward was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit with a star as a successful individual entrepreneur . For the Bremen politicians this is one more reason not to like Borgward. It brings the region a lot of jobs and the city secure tax revenues, but Borgward always keeps people “under their noses”. Not a good starting position given its current financial situation, because Borgward now has to ask the Senate for a guarantee because the banks are refusing further loans. However, when he wanted to increase the initially targeted 50 million marks by a further 30 million, a dispute broke out. Critics such as the Senator for Economic Affairs, Karl Eggers , had foreseen this and they are pondering their own plan to secure jobs even without the company owner. That is why Finance Senator Wilhelm Nolting-Hauff meets with management consultant Dr. Johannes Semler and Mayor Wilhelm Kaisen are planning to found a stock company. Cooperation with VW or BMW , who have already shown interest, would be conceivable. Mayor Kaisen also asks Chancellor Erhard for support, but he refuses federal participation. This is how Nolting-Hauff's initiative comes into play and management consultant Semler is officially called in to help. Nobody in the Bremen Senate knows by then that Semler is also a member of the BMW supervisory board.

In 1961, the Bremen Senate votes on whether the automobile plant should be granted a further loan. The Senate agrees on the condition that Carl FW Borgward transfers all rights to the new AG. Borgward signs the contract in the hope that his 19,000 employees will be able to keep their jobs. Semler is now moving into his office, which was officially installed by the Senate. But instead of getting the company back on its feet so that it can continue to work independently, the company plans to "bleed out" so that BMW can take over the Borgward works at the lowest possible price. That's why he immediately sends six designers to Munich and declares this as further training for these employees. But his plan doesn't work, BMW is only interested in Borgward's main plant and rejects Semler's offer to buy. The Bremen Senate is also getting restless because Semler has not had any visible successes. After he demands another 50 million for the new AG and is not able to sell the Borgward works, the general power of attorney is revoked and the final end of automobile production is sealed.

Carl FW Borgward suffers greatly from having lost his company and from not having been given the opportunity to iron out his mistakes. He made a statement in the press for the first time after the company was closed. He admits to having made mistakes, but the Bremen Senate and its chosen economic expert Semler are the real culprits in the final demise of the Borgward works. He broke due to the loss of the company and the promise to his workers that he could not keep and died in 1963. It was a targeted market adjustment for his competitors, but a catastrophe for those affected. Three years later, Der Spiegel reported that Borgward was prematurely driven into bankruptcy, which the Bremen Senate presented differently in its statement of accounts.

A subplot shows the fate of the car dealer Peter Zech, who specialized in the sale of Borgward models. Ironically, the latest model, the "Arabella" shows more and more defects and buyers are jumping off. Due to the manufacturing company's liquidity problems, the dealer also has to file for bankruptcy in the end and loses his invested capital.

background

The story of the first major bankruptcy of the post-war period, which still causes disbelief in business people today, was filmed from February 20, 2018 to March 14, 2018 in Bremen , Ganderkesee , Bruchhausen-Vilsen and Berne .

The film, constructed as a feature film, is supplemented in various parts by historical recordings. Through interposed interviews, the viewer learns the historical background and the history of the Borgward company.

The premiere was on September 29, 2018 at the Hamburg Film Festival .

reception

Audience rating

The first broadcast on January 7, 2019 was seen by 3.53 million viewers in Germany and achieved a market share of 10.9% for Das Erste .

Reviews

Rainer Tittelbach from Tittelbach.tv wrote: “'The Borgward Affair' […] is a dense, information-saturated 90-minute film that illuminates the conflicts of interest in politics and business, but also tells a personal drama. Thomas Thieme gives the analytical film, which of course works differently than a feature film, the necessary soul. Cool: instead of contemporary witnesses, characters / actors put original quotes in their mouths. ”But“ only rarely does one get the impression of attending explanatory dialogues. And even if you know how the real story ends, not just the facts are illustrated here. Rather, Rosenmüller tries again and again to find visual metaphors that go beyond the documentary (de) secured level of action. A desperately puffing Borgward, at the fence in front of the factory premises, a lost man who has been deprived of his meaning in life, is one of these lasting images. "

At the Weser Kurier , Katharina Frohne commented: “How did it happen that Borgward ultimately failed? The film is careful not to answer that question. It is obvious that Marcus O. Rosenmüller, who directed and wrote the script, takes great pains not to evaluate but to depict, to illuminate the ambivalence of the situation instead of taking a position. It is thanks to acting greats like Thieme, Zirner or Barbara Philipp [...] that it works every now and then. In the strongest scenes of the film, Thieme is sometimes a forgotten tinkerer, sometimes a domineering patriarch, sometimes a sympathetic, sometimes unsympathetic. "

Oliver Junge at the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said: “The documentary level seems dutiful, not stimulating. The still virulent question of how the state should behave towards the powerful automotive industry in times of crisis is hardly discussed. […] But the dramatization is the weakest, because you cannot develop a closer relationship with any of the characters, not even Borgward. [...] The second mistake, leaving the direction and script in one hand, takes its toll. The latter does not exist here in the strict sense. The narrative arc does not go beyond the company insolvency, but it cannot leave it emotional. So a lot of idle with music is produced. "

Awards

The film was nominated for the Hamburg Producer Award for German TV Productions .

On October 23, 2019, the film was awarded the German Business Film Prize in the "Economy well explained" category.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Borgward affair at crew united
  2. ↑ Filmfest Hamburg: NDR presents 13 productions. In: Presseportal.de. news aktuell GmbH, September 24, 2018, accessed on October 2, 2018 : "[...] the film biography" Die Affäre Borgward "is in competition for the Hamburg producer award" German TV Production ", which is endowed with 25,000 euros."
  3. ↑ Sidney Schering: Primetime Check: Monday, January 7, 2019.quotemeter.de , January 8, 2019, accessed on January 8, 2019 .
  4. ^ Rainer Tittelbach : Thomas Thieme, Zirner, Eyron, Marcus O. Rosenmüller. Docu-drama for baby boomers , accessed on Tittelbach.tv on February 24, 2019.
  5. ↑ Katharina Frohne: The Borgward Affair: Documentary feature film runs on Monday. In: Culture. Weser Kurier, January 5, 2019, accessed on January 7, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Oliver Junge: ARD film "The Borgward Affair". A hobbyist among managers. In: Feuilleton. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, January 7, 2019, accessed on January 7, 2019 .
  7. ↑ The Borgward Affair. In: Program. Filmfest Hamburg, accessed on October 2, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Altmaier awards the 52nd German Business Film Awards. In: press release. Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy , October 23, 2019, accessed on April 21, 2020 : “In the“ Economy well explained ”category, this year the jury selected an exciting film from economic history for 1st place:“ The Borgward Affair ”by the North German Broadcasting. "