A train to Manhattan
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | A train to Manhattan |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1981 |
| length | 60 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Rolf von Sydow |
| script | Eric Burger |
| production | Gyula Trebitsch for ZDF |
| music | Friedrich Leonhardt |
| camera | Gero Erhardt |
| occupation | |
| |
A train to Manhattan is a German film drama of the director Rolf von Sydow from the year 1981. The film adaptation based on the story Holiday Song of the American writer Paddy Chayefsky . In the main role , Heinz Rühmann embodies the Jewish cantor Leon Sternberger, who is losing his faith in God.
action
In 1952, Leon Sternberger is cantor of a rather small Jewish community in a New York suburb. A pious Jew throughout his life, he was overcome overnight with doubts about the existence of a God who, in his opinion, allowed so many injustices, wars and acts of violence to occur among people.
His niece Esther is concerned about his strange behavior and notifies Sternberger's best friend Mosche Rosen. In the conversation that the two men have, Leon reveals himself to his friend and both are worried because he will not be able to take part in the upcoming Jewish New Year festival Rosh Hashanah as a cantor if he does not believe in God. Rosen sees only one way out, Leon is supposed to take the train to Manhattan to contact the famous Rabbi Markus, who can certainly help him out of his crisis of faith. Following the advice, Sternberger took the subway, but because he had never used public transport in his life, he could not find his way around. He asks a station master for help, who pushes him onto a train whose destination is not Manhattan, but Brooklyn.
In the practically empty train compartment, Sternberger can barely prevent a young woman from jumping out of the moving train. He caringly accompanies her home. She tells him that she comes from Utrecht . During the Second World War , on December 22, 1942, she, her husband and her two children were deported and she did not see them again. A date she could never forget. Sternberger knows that there are no words of consolation, wordlessly he presses the young woman's hand.
Back at home, Sternberger's niece Esther tells him that she has received a marriage proposal and that the young man is very religious and considers it an honor to meet him, a cantor. He then tells her that he no longer believes in God and therefore could no longer be a cantor, then he retires to the synagogue . Rosen followed him there and the rabbi who had been notified by him. Sternberger tells the rabbi what moves him and that he no longer feels the closeness of God and would not even recognize him when he met him. Even the rabbi sees no other option than to send Sternberger to see Rabbi Markus in Manhattan. So the old gentleman sets out again and makes a second attempt to get to his original goal. Although he recognizes the station master and explicitly asks him not to put him on the wrong train again, that is exactly what happens. Again the compartment is deserted, except for a young man, with whom the cantor sits down. The man tells him that he is Dutch and that he comes from Utrecht. He too speaks of December 22, 1942, the day he, his wife and children were deported. The cantor switched immediately and wanted to know whether his wife was called Myriam and asked further questions, all of which the young man answered in the affirmative. Sternberger calls the woman from a phone booth in the presence of the man and it turns out that both actually belong together. The two of them had their first conversation on the phone in ten years.
Something extraordinary happened to him today, the cantor sums up, twice he was pushed onto the wrong train and both times the train was strangely empty. And be it not a strange coincidence that the first time on the wrong train he met a young woman who had lost her husband and the second time on the wrong train he met a young man who had lost his wife. And then the cantor also has to establish that, according to the statement of the station master, whom he addresses, there is no one else on this ward than him. Sternberger winks at the sky and quotes Zechariah with a saying about which he had previously spoken to the rabbi: "And you should recognize him in the strangest clothes and in the strangest places." Since he is now sure that behind everything he has experienced, there is a deeper meaning, and God has revealed himself to him, he appears that evening at the Jewish New Year celebrations in his function as cantor before the faithful.
Production notes and background
The filming took place in New York in 1980 and lasted a week. Götz Heymann worked as the film architect . The television film premiered on March 8, 1981 on ZDF .
In an interview, Rühmann said about his role that he simply had to make this film. It is much more relevant today than in 1952. There are wars, people are starving and children are being kidnapped, and more and more people are doubting God. He believe . In another interview he said: "For me, the role is a message to my fellow human beings to think about their faith." He said he had known the script for almost 30 years. According to Rühmann, one must “have the wisdom of old age in order to be able to depict the conflicts of conscience”.
In the film, which is set in September 1952, the two towers of the World Trade Center can be seen in the background in two places (intentionally or accidentally?) .
criticism
"A convincingly played story full of human warmth, which, in its brilliant staging, provides subtle pleasure."
Award
In 1981, Heinz Rühmann was awarded the silver medal of the 24th New York International Film and TV Festival for his performance in this film.
Web links
- A train to Manhattan in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Certificate of Release for a Train to Manhattan . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , September 2006 (PDF; test number: 107 552 V / DVD).
- ↑ a b c A train to Manhattan heidecker.eu
- ↑ Torsten Körner: A good friend: Heinz Rühmann. Aufbau-Verlag , Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-7466-1925-4 , p. 359 .
- ↑ Torsten Körner: A good friend: Heinz Rühmann. Aufbau-Verlag , Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-7466-1925-4 , p. 454 .
- ↑ A Train to Manhattan (TV Movie 1981) - Release Info - IMDb. In: imdb.com. Retrieved June 19, 2015 .
- ^ A train to Manhattan filmportal.de
- ↑ Bunte , No. 49, 1980
- ↑ A train to Manhattan. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .