The driven ones
Die Grittenen is a German feature film from 2020 . The screenplay is based on the non-fiction book Die Grittenen: Merkel and the refugee policy by journalist Robin Alexander and reconstructs the refugee crisis in Europe from 2015 .
According to the trailer, the film should originally have been shown briefly in German cinemas from the end of March 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany destroyed these plans. It ran on April 15, 2020 in the first and was repeated on May 1, 2020 on One .
action
Summer 2015. More and more Syrian war refugees and migrants are pushing towards Central Europe along the Balkan route. The Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán refuses them to stay in his country. The German Chancellor Merkel sets out her policy with her mantra “ We can do it ”. Your government and party colleagues, above all the Bavarian Prime Minister Seehofer, are skeptical and negative about the policy of open borders. In cooperation with the Austrian Chancellor Faymann, Merkel organized the transport of thousands of people from the Hungarian-Austrian border via Vienna to Germany. The plot reconstructs the 63 days in 2015.
History of origin
The film was shot on location in Berlin , Munich , Vienna , Budapest and Brussels . The scenes in the mountains where Chancellor Angela Merkel spends her summer vacation were filmed in the Ötztal Alps in the Tyrolean town of Gurgl .
reception
Reviews
“The film is almost a declaration of love to Angela Merkel. And the fact that one sometimes has the feeling that the film could also be used to initiate her canonization is certainly also due to the great performance of the actress Imogen Kogge. It gives Merkel an aura that combines humanity and highly professional state femininity. [...] It is a real experience: The acting performances in this film are consistently remarkable. "
“The filmmakers combined TV material with game scenes, the pace is fast. What the protagonists in Berlin, Brussels, Budapest or Munich might not be in the wording, but it sounds likely, and so much so that the authenticity of their tone of voice is almost astonishing. Friends and enemies of Merkel's politics alike can be amazed, and they are both disappointed in their prejudices. It was all a little different after all. The Driven is a veristic docudrama, not a didactic piece and so a big game. "
"The sympathy control is clear: the politicians and advisors around Merkel are portrayed as either power-hungry, decrepit or stubborn. Merkel remains steadfast and holds up the flag of humanity. This picture agrees with reality insofar as the Chancellor is tougher when in doubt than most in her political environment. However, it is hardly credible that mercy alone determined their actions in the asylum crisis. Chancellorship cannot be contested with altruism, and the desire to retain power bends some decisions. "
Political reactions
The social democratic forward saw the film as a docudrama about “Merkel's twists and turns in refugee policy.” From the point of view of the SPD party newspaper, important actors besides Merkel remained “pale or appear as a caricature, which is hardly compatible with the documentary claim of the whole thing. “The former President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maaßen, who is portrayed in the film by Michael Benthin, judged under the heading“ Truth and Poetry ”in a Focus guest contribution:“ Imogen Kogge in the leading role as Angela Merkel and other top-class actors play so convincingly that it is tempting for the viewer to believe that it really was. (...) Unlike the film, the refugee crisis did not end abruptly with the CSU party congress in November 2015, but continued. "
Thomas de Maizière , Federal Minister of the Interior under Merkel at the beginning of the refugee crisis and portrayed in the film by Wolfgang Pregler , said in an interview in June 2020: “The book is a reckoning with Merkel and Merkel's government policy at the time. And the film, there comes Ms. Merkel [...] with all her deliberations, she actually gets away best [...] In this film, all those involved except the Chancellor [...] are basically only portrayed as if they could with all that you decide it is always about yourself. Whether Seehofer Söder wipes out one, or whether Seehofer prevents Söder, or Söder wants something, and Gabriel only thinks about whether he will now be a candidate for chancellor etc. etc. and that bothered me. "
Audience ratings
The first broadcast of Die Grittenen on April 15, 2020 was seen by 3.98 million viewers in Germany and achieved a market share of 12.5% for Das Erste .
Web links
- The Wretched in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for the driven ones . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF).
- ↑ The driven at crew united
- ↑ Heribert Prantl: ARD film "The Driven". Almost a canonization. In: Media. Süddeutsche Zeitung, April 14, 2020, accessed on April 16, 2020 .
- ^ Thomas E. Schmidt: The crisis manager. In: Culture. Die Zeit, April 15, 2020, accessed on April 16, 2020 : “Perhaps Corona will one day inspire a similarly captivating film about politics. From today that would be cause for confidence. "
- ↑ Jonas Hermann: When Horst Seehofer curses the Chancellor. In: Feuilleton. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, April 15, 2020, accessed on April 26, 2020 .
- ^ Nils Michaelis: Docudrama about Merkel's twists and turns in refugee policy. Forward, April 9, 2020, accessed April 27, 2020 .
- ↑ Hans-Georg Maaßen: Truth and Poetry. In: Magazine No. 16 (2020). Focus, April 11, 2020, p. 42 , accessed April 27, 2020 .
- ↑ Thomas de Maizière, what is conservative today? , Interview with Jochen Wegner and Christoph Amend, Podcast, Zeit online, July 2, 2020 (from 01: 37: 00-01: 40: 00).
- ↑ Sidney Schering: Prime Time check: Wednesday, 15 April 2020. Quotenmeter.de , April 16, 2020 accessed on 16 April 2020 .