The Piefke saga

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title The Piefke saga
Country of production Austria , Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1990 (part 1–3)
1993 (part 4)
length 4 episodes: 384 minutes
Rod
Director Wilfried Dotzel (part 1–3)
Werner Masten (part 4)
script Felix Mitterer
production Dieter Meichsner (part 1–3)
Peter Mertz (part 1–3)
Bernd Michael Fincke (part 4)
Ernst Petz (part 4)
music Wilhelm Dieter Siebert (part 1–3)
Klaus Doldinger (part 4)
camera Michael Thiele (part 1–3)
Piotr Sobociński (part 4)
cut Ursula Höf (part 1–3)
Michael Breining (part 4)
occupation

The Piefke saga is a four-part Austrian television film from 1990 (parts 1–3) and 1993 (part 4). The script comes from the writer and playwright Felix Mitterer . Directed by Wilfried Dotzel and Werner Masten . The series was created as a joint production by NDR and ORF . The series initially only had three parts, the fourth part was shot in 1993, three years after the first three parts. The script was published in 1991 by Haymon Verlag . In May 2020, Felix Mitterer announced that he was working on a fifth part due to the incidents in Tyrolean ski resorts in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic .

content

In the film, the relationship between Germans and Austrians is illuminated in a satirical and tragicomic way, especially the relationship between German tourists and local Tyroleans. The main characters in the series are the members of the Berlin entrepreneurial family Sattmann, who have spent their holidays in the fictional town of Lahnenberg (was shot in Mayrhofen , later for the fourth part also in Alpbach ) in the Tyrolean Zillertal for years . The film thus picks up on a main motif of numerous homeland films from the 1950s and 60s: Prussians with financial influence are on summer vacation in Austria, which leads to linguistic and amorous misunderstandings and entanglements.

With biting sarcasm , both the peculiarities of West German tourists and the behavior of the locals are exposed, whereby neither party gets off particularly well. The sometimes massive socially critical implications of the film series led to heated discussions.

The story begins with an edition of the 1982 television show Auf Los geht's los , in which show master Joachim Fuchsberger asks questions to nine “jurors” from the audience and the candidates have to guess the jury's answers. In a broadcast produced in Vienna with an Austrian audience, he asks the fateful question: "How many of the nine jurors do the Germans in principle call Piefke?" Six of the nine jurors (including the then director of the Berlin transport company Joachim Piefke ) answered yes. When asked by Fuchsberger, they explain that the Piefkes are the conceited Germans who tossed about their marks and believed they were something better. This TV show actually existed; real excerpts from the show are used in the film.

Another real event that was processed in the series was a headline in the Wiener magazine Wochenpresse (shown in the film as the fictional weekly magazine Die Woche ) on July 12, 1983: “Who needs the Piefkes? Austria on sale ”.

These - real - events are the hook for the fictional love-hate story between the Tyrolean hotelier family Wechselberger and the farming family from the Rotterhof on the one hand and the Berlin entrepreneurial family Sattmann on the other. This story is told over several years, with the families becoming more and more entangled.

The fourth part, set in the near future (and filmed three years after the original miniseries ), exaggerates the satire into the absurd and includes some strange, almost disturbing incidents. There are unrest and uprisings in many European countries. Only Tyrol is presented as a quiet place to relax. In Tyrol, on the other hand, everything is geared towards tourism. For example, hotels reach thirteen floors down so as not to destroy the townscape. There are mechanical cows on the mountain pastures that have to be maintained by Japanese technicians. The mountains are huge garbage dumps that are covered with artificial meadows and trees. The majority of the population was visually and surgically altered in order to behave like the original Tyrolean. Terrorists / freedom fighters, on the other hand, are fighting against this change.

For reasons that have not been conclusively clarified, this fourth part has been omitted in TV reruns of the miniseries for years. Decisive for this are apparently scenes with above-average provocation potential such as armed violence, allusions to pornography and the depiction of terrorist actions in general. In August 2005, the fourth part was finally shown by ORF, after only the first three parts had originally been on the program.

The main characters in the act

The Sattmann family from Berlin:

The Tyrolean Wechselberger family:

The Tyrolean farming family Krimbacher from the Rotterhof:

Other:

The four parts of the Piefke saga

Part 1: The scandal
In Berlin and Tyrol, the above-mentioned Eurovision broadcast is seenat the same time, whereupon the Sattmanns are indignant on the phone with Mayor Wechselberger. The hotelier can reassure his permanent guest (“These are only the Viennese ”) and look forward to seeing you again soon in Tyrol. Once there, the Sattmanns found out about the above article during the week and left the hotel out of indignation. Instead, you spend the night with the local Krimbacher family on their simple mountain farm , which is not geared towards tourists. From there they organize protest actions in order to mobilize the other German guests, which the locals try to prevent with counter-actions until the end of the reconciliation takes place and the author of the article, a Viennese journalist, together with the mayor's brother of the “entire male “village population is beaten to hospital maturity.

Part 2: The animation
The second part is mainly about the various activities of the Sattmann family on vacation. Karl-Friedrich got it into his headto receivethe silver hiking pin on the ribbon . Gunnar is arrested because he and Stefan are caught on his hemp plantation. In the end, the completely inexperienced Karl-Friedrich Thomas impresses, so that he helps him as a mountain guide to climb the highest possible summit, and thus puts both in danger.

Part 3: The business
In the third part, Karl-Friedrich builds a snow cannon factory in Lahnenberg, which creates many jobs there. In return, the mayor grants him the right to hunt in the forest, which causes bad blood among the locals. Joe, who marries Sabine, and Stefan act as poachers in protest. Using a gift trick with the help of Andreas, who is lying in the hospital, one also tries to illegally help Karl-Friedrich to get the promised property, as he is not allowed to acquire it as a foreign national. The whole thing is exposed, but the Sattmanns get their property and house in an avalanche zone. The displeasure grows when it is also discovered that the groundwater is contaminated by the waste water from the factory, which is distributed to the mountains by the snow cannons. The mayor puts all the blame on Sattmann in front of the assembled village, and he swears that he will never go on vacation to Tyrol again and move the factory to Bavaria. Finally, half of the Lahnenberg village population including the brass band comes to Berlin for reconciliation.

Part 4: The fulfillment
The Sattmanns are stuck in traffic for five days to get to Tyrol, where they are greeted with a welcome schnapps at the border. You will find a Tyrol that has at least superficially returned to the old traditions - people walkaroundin traditional costumes , the villages look like 100 years ago, etc. In the course of the plot, however, it is revealed that the whole of Tyrol is built on rubbish Cows and deer are made of plastic and the inhabitants have been converted into soulless “typical Tyroleans” by Japanese scientists in favor of tourism. When it is discovered that the Sattmann family has discovered the plot, they are arrested and operated on themselves. Karl-Friedrich is operated on as a Tyrolean, the rest of them can flee for the time being with the help of the guerrilla movement that has holed up in the mountains. At the end of the film, Mayor Wechselberger and his wife, two of the few remaining ordinary people in Tyrol, voluntarily undergo surgery.

The municipal secretary and chairman of the tourism association remains the only "normal person". He alone is given the opportunity to experience the “fulfillment” of the wildest dreams in his industry with a clear understanding: Tyrol has - with few restrictions - become a perfectly orchestrated holiday area. Despite the ultimate triumph of the tourism machinery, however, he clearly feels his victory as stale and with a bitter aftertaste. His listless, bent-looking appearance in the final scene is reminiscent of a scene at the very beginning of the series: Completely disaffected German customs officers on the verge of total apathy symbolize the exaggeratedly portrayed as inhumane conditions in the Federal Republic. The unspoken statement in the room is that it is precisely these adverse circumstances that make Germans ready for vacation and immune to social skills. “The fulfillment” brings up the irony that there is nothing more humane in the “holy land of Tyrol” - only the residents are able to convincingly maintain the illusion of the ideal world. This is also where Mitterer's final message is to be sought: The paradise sought by tourism is based on the dehumanization and cannibalization of the local population.

Quotes

  • Karl-Friedrich Sattmann on every occasion when he is dissatisfied with the vacation: "We're leaving !"
  • Karl-Friedrich Sattmann in the head office to his unsuccessful sales manager in the Middle East: “Do you know what you are? A stupid, narrow-minded German! You have to be able to empathize with other mentalities! They just have different negotiation methods than we do! You have to go into that! You are fired! ” The sales manager leaves the room. "Incapable gang!"
  • Sattmann senior after the TV show: “These Austrians can't help it. They have to pee on our legs all the time. "
  • Photographer : “Sodala, Mr. Mrkwitschka, now look no a bit stupid… a ned sooo! A bit stupid ... You know what, Mr. Mrkwitschka, just look at it like always! "
  • Franz Wechselberger (leafing through the magazine with the Piefke article): “Who broke the article? Hollescheck. Manfred Hollescheck. ”
    Sattmann senior: “ A Slav? Naturally!"
  • Sattmann senior to Franz Wechselberger and Max Niederwieser: "You lousy Austrians have long been given a memorandum."
  • Franz Wechselberger (reassuringly to the Sattmanns): “The Viennese, the Eastern Austrians as a whole, are lazy, depraved and devious. [...] We Tyroleans, Mr. Sattmann, love our German guests. I assure you: We prefer you for your ass than any Viennese for your face! "
  • Karl-Friedrich Sattmann , after bumping his head violently when entering the Rotterhof parlor: "What do they have to have such low door frames!"
    Sattmann senior: "Small mountain people - their own breed!"
  • Andrä discovers the Sattmann family, who have spread out uninvited in the room.
    Andrä : "Wås tiats denn ehs då?"
    Karl-Friedrich Sattmann : "I beg your pardon ?"
    Andrä : (emphasizing every word) "Wås ehs då tiats?"
    Karl-Friedrich Sattmann : "I don't understand a word."
    Gunnar : " I think old Fuzzi wants to know what we're doing here. "
    Karl-Friedrich Sattmann :" We want to spend the night here. At face value, of course. "
    Ms. Sattmann (speaks like a clumsy child): " We want to sleep here (points to the floor) (puts his head on folded hands) . Do you understand? For money. Pay. (Rubs thumb and forefinger) Deutschmark. D-Mark. "
  • Andrä ( talking to himself in the stable): “De hun i scho 'g'fressn, the Reichsdeitschn! Gang, miserable ones! Ibaråll put it there! Nit amål då herobm håt ma be Ruah! "
  • Sattmann senior (while staying at the Rotterhof): “During the war, we were often quartered in farms. Once they wanted to cut our throats at night ... partisans! "
  • Girl : “Nåcha knows breakfast. Mama has had enough coffee and a cup of tea. ”
    Karl-Friedrich Sattmann: “ Aha. - What did she say? ”
    Ms. Sattmann :“ I don't know, I feel like I'm in Yugoslavia. ”
  • Sattmann senior disparagingly about the locals: "Comrade Schnürschuh makes fun of us."
  • Sattmann senior to another German tourist: “Mr. Körner, I will appoint you a scout. Follow these natives and find out what they are up to! "
    Mr. Körner then tries to pretend to be Tyrolean at the entrance     to the community hall:
    Joe :" Stop! Only for locals! ”
    Mr. Körner :“ I'm a local, dork! Griazdi Gott, wi-aah geets there? ”
    Joe :“ Go vaschwind, you lowland Tyrolean. Pluck di! "
    Mr. Körner :" Pluck di? "
  • Franz Wechselberger and Max Niederwieser try to convince Karl-Friedrich Sattmann to build his factory in Tyrol.
    Max Niederwieser : "So here in Tyrol, the union has nothing to report."
  • Girls as an apology to the German tourists: “Oh dear German friends, you dear visitors to our community: We are heartfelt sorry that you were inflicted pain! Believe us, we love you! You are always welcome! Forgive us the terrible disgrace that congealed from a Viennese pen. On my knees I ask your forgiveness! Please don't let us down! Listen to your heart's movement, be a gracious judgment! "
  • Karl-Friedrich Sattmann almost freezes to death in the chairlift that has stopped at night in the freezing cold: “Dear God, I'm not a practicing Protestant, but I am a decent person. You have to believe me. Certainly, in the last collective bargaining negotiations, I was for a tougher pace. But I am not an exploiter, you know that! "
  • Sattmann senior at the parlor evening in the hotel: “You, dear Tyroleans, are really the better Germans at the moment! (Franz Wechselberger winces) We can learn from you! "
  • Children's choir at the inauguration of the Sattmann snow cannon factory : “Sattmann, we praise you, Sattmann, we love you! You bring us blessings, you should live high! Work and happiness are returning. "
  • Franz Wechselberger , after being really annoyed about his German guests again: “Scheiß-Piefke! And something like that has to last a lifetime! "

criticism

In 1992 Felix Mitterer and Dietrich Mattausch received the Adolf Grimme Prize with silver for the series .

continuation

In 2007 it was reported that Felix Mitterer was writing a script for a sequel under the working title "The Russian Saga" . This time the setting is Kitzbühel, where Dietrich Mattausch, alias Karl-Friedrich Sattmann , was supposed to meet a rich Russian family. Other actors from the Piefke saga such as Tobias Moretti and Gregor Bloéb (and originally Kurt Weinzierl , who died on October 10, 2008) should also appear at the author's request. However, in 2011 the paperwork had not progressed, and in 2015 Mitterer finally said he had put the project on hold. "The Russian guests would not be in Tyrol and in view of the Russia-Ukraine conflict he was not feeling like satire," said the Tyrolean daily.

In May 2020 Mitterer announced that it was working on a fifth part due to the incidents in Tyrolean ski resorts in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic .

literature

  • Felix Mitterer: The Piefke Saga. Comedy of a vain affection. Haymon Verlag, Innsbruck 1991, ISBN 978-3-85218-089-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Ischgl for Mitterer material for the new Piefke saga. May 24, 2020, accessed May 24, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Press release Austria Press Agency of December 10, 2007
  3. ↑ Südtirol Online from August 25, 2011 ( Memento from October 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Felix, it's all much worse: The Piefke saga will be 25th. Accessed on March 8, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Marina Rehfeld: Felix Mitterer is working on "Piefke-Saga 5" after the Ischgl case. May 24, 2020, accessed May 24, 2020 .