Jungle time
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Jungle Time Tower of Hanoi |
| Original title | Những mảnh đời rừng Ngọn tháp Hà Nội |
| Country of production | GDR , Vietnam |
| original language | German , Vietnamese |
| Publishing year | 1988 |
| length | 95 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director |
Jörg Foth Tran Vu |
| script | Jörg Foth Tran Vu |
| production | DEFA studio for feature films, group “Babelsberg” / feature film studio Vietnam, film working group 3 |
| music | Christoph Theusner |
| camera |
Günter Jaeuthe Pham Thien Thuyet |
| cut |
Lotti Mehnert Nguyen Thi Yen |
| occupation | |
| |
Jungle Time (Vietnamese title: Những mảnh đời rừng ) or Tower of Hanoi (Vietnamese title: Ngọn tháp Hà Nội ) is the first German- Vietnamese feature film and was produced by the DEFA studio for feature films and the Vietnam feature film studio in Hanoi . It deals with the deployment of German foreign legionnaires in the Indochina war and the desertion and return of a legionnaire to Germany with the help of the SED in the newly founded GDR . The film was shot in 1987 in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and was the first foreign feature film to be fully realized in the country.
Further technical data
- Dramaturgy: Brigitte Bernert
- Buildings: Nguyen Nhu Giao, Peter Wilde
- Costumes: Werner Bergemann, Marcel Manoury, Nguyen Nhu Giao, Nguyen Thi Lan
- Masks: Klaus Friedrich, Nguyen Thi Huong
- Sound: Günter Springer, Dao Van Bien
- Production management: Hans-Erich Busch, Tran Quang Chinh
- Distribution: Progress Film-Verleih, Berlin / GDR
- Length: 2604 m
- Format: 35 mm, 1: 1.66
- Picture / sound: Orwocolor , sound.
- Instructions for use from Progress -Filmverleih: In addition to its normal flow, the film can be used for specific work. It can be scheduled for the Vietnamese national holiday (September 2, 1945 founding of the SRV).
- World premiere Germany: April 14, 1988, Berlin, Kino International
action
Hanoi, Christmas 1949. The German Foreign Legionnaire Armin Bauer is deserted from the Legion and warrant sought by the French colonial authorities. A young girl leads him into the house of the communist Hai. Hai is ready to help Armin. Armin receives a French legend . They ride a rowboat on the Mekong and are intercepted by the local police chief, Mr. Lu Khu, at a checkpoint. However, he allows them to visit the local temple accompanied by a guard . Hai and Armin overpower the guard accompanying them and, accompanied by a local girl, flee to the so-called liberated area, which is controlled by the Viet Minh .
In a village, Hai explains history to the members of the Viet Minh Armin. Armin, a printer by trade , as a German Communist ( KPD ) was put by the National Socialists in a punitive battalion that was deployed in North Africa during the Second World War ( punishment battalion 999 ). He was captured by French units and forced to fight the Viet Minh in the Foreign Legion. Now he has recognized the injustice of this war and wants to fight the French.
The Vietminh leader suggests that Armin return to Germany since the GDR now exists. However, Armin does not want to go to Germany, but to fight the French. Thereupon it is suggested to him, based on his knowledge of German, to organize a propaganda group to urge members of the Foreign Legion to desert. This will also weaken the enemy. Armin now works in a printing house with Son . The village children are curious about the foreigner, and at a village festival Armin falls in love with the singer and dancer Van. Armin drafts a text intended to make legionaries overflow.
Six other deserters from the Legion arrive in the village: Eddy, Charly, Bäcker, Kaupel, Malaria-Benny and Gecko. Armin is appointed leader of the group by the Viet Minh, Eddy his deputy. The ex-legionaries live temporarily with Uncle Kim, who bears a strong resemblance to Ho Chi Minh . They 're building a new house out of bamboo . This house construction is viewed critically by the villagers, including Son, because it is very high, offers a target for French air raids and thus endangers the village.
Armin had an accident while building a house. He is deaf but regains his hearing through acupuncture treatment . Uncle Kim prays to his ancestors for him . After his healing, Van sings a German folk song for Armin: saw a boy stand a rose… .
One day the legionaries are given permission to carry weapons. It is now February 1950. The villagers' fears come true: Due to the clearly visible house, French planes attack the village and partially set it on fire. The deserters take part in the deletion.
Son reports that French parachutists have appeared. The deserters are asked again whether they want to return to Germany. Armin chooses it, the others don't. Eddy wants Armin to write to him. The deserters take up position at a bridge. The French advance across the bridge. Baker has a vision and sees the deserters in the soldiers. He approaches them and tries to persuade them to lay down their arms. He is shot by them. In the ensuing skirmish, all soldiers are killed. Hai says goodbye to Armin, who is driving away in a rail bus.
Text overlay:
Berlin, April 25, 1952. In the overcrowded Friedrichstadtpalast, 68 of the 133 returnees from the Indochina war so far give a press conference.
Advertising lines for the Progress film distribution company
Authentic life stories were the inspiration: the fate of German legionnaires in the French Indochina War.
Home around the world. A film by Jörg Foth and Tran Vu.
Youngsters between loss and discovery of their face. A GDR / SRV coproduction.
Armin B. - One of 20,000 Germans in Indochina.
1950 in Vietnam. About the encounter between two cultures. A story from yesterday for today. In the main role Hans-Uwe Bauer.
Reviews
“... a group of former legionnaires who are adorned with attractive-looking attributes such as a saxophone, facial features marked by malaria or a comical, bizarre joker turns out to be clichéd. On the one hand, this film refers to authentic events, and on the other hand, the authors come to us with a hodgepodge of guys from the western dropout and rocker scene of the 60s ... "
“... On the screen, idyll and comfort dominate, and the like has a fatal trend towards boredom. How and why the young German Armin (Hans-Uwe Bauer) ended up in the French Foreign Legion, deserted from it and allowed himself to be smuggled to the partisans in the liberated area on Christmas Eve 1949 is only hinted at verbally by the creators. Apparently they were more interested in a popular science cultural film ... "
“... The result of the first DEFA co-production with Vietnam provokes questions and reflection ... The events on the screen just make me gloomy - despite the occasional (involuntary) cheerfulness. There are films that I can hardly think of anything more. Except shaking your head. 'Jungle time' is one. "
"A largely superficial story with no emotional impact."
Trivia
A quarter-hour documentary film by Jörg Foth about the West German singer Konstantin Wecker with the title “Lang mi ned o - Don't touch me” was to be shown in the accompanying program at Jungle Time . It is not yet known whether this was realized.
literature
- Info Progress Film-Verleih 39/88.
- Cinema GDR 1988/4.
- Ralf Schenk (editor): The second life of the film city Babelsberg. DEFA feature films 1946–1992 , Berlin 1994.
- W .: Idyll with crash landing. On the DEFA / SRV film production “Dschungelzeit” , in: Mitteldeutsche Latest News , Leipzig from April 16, 1988.
- In coproduction: Dschungelzeit , in: Sächsisches Tageblatt , Dresden from April 25, 1988.
- Renate Holland-Moritz: Jungle Time , in: Eulenspiegel from May 9, 1988.
- Peter Claus: History of the past for the benefit of the present. Conversation with DEFA director Jörg Foth about "Jungle Time" , in: Junge Welt , Berlin, September 18, 1987.
- Horst Knietzsch: End of the "jungle time" for German legionaries. Premiere of a film by Jörg Foth and Tran Vu , in: Neues Deutschland on April 15, 1988.
Web links
- Jungle time at progress-film.de
- Jungle time on the website of the Filmmuseum Potsdam
- Apocalypse Hanoi - An Interview with Jörg Foth about Jungle Time (1988) , September 22, 2011.
- Jungle time at the DEFA Foundation
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jungle Time. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed May 26, 2017 .