Global player - where we are at the front
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Global player - where we are at the front |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German , Swabian , Chinese |
| Publishing year | 2013 |
| length | 98 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 0 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Hannes Stöhr |
| script | Hannes Stöhr |
| production |
Karsten Aurich , Annedore von Donop , Hannes Stöhr |
| music |
Florian Appl , Paul Kalkbrenner , Fritz Kalkbrenner |
| camera | Andreas Doub |
| cut | Simone Klier |
| occupation | |
| |
Global Player - Where We Are Isch Front is a feature film by the German director Hannes Stöhr , which paints the tragicomic portrait of a medium-sized entrepreneurial family in globalization . The main roles are played by the folk actor Walter Schultheiß as well as Christoph Bach , Inka Friedrich and Ulrike Folkerts . The cinema release in Germany was on October 3, 2013. The film was shown as the opening film at the German Film Festival 2014 in Ludwigshafen and as the closing film at the international film festival Cinema Jove in Valencia 2014. Global Player premiered in the US - Where we are is front in 2014 at the International Film Festival in Miami, its Asian premiere in 2014 at the Singapore Film Festival. The film ran for 39 weeks in the arthouse cinema Kinothek in Stuttgart. The story was edited as a play by Hannes Stöhr and premiered on March 3, 2018 in the Lindenhof Theater in Melchingen under his direction. In 2016, SWR produced a radio play based on the film.
action
The Bogenschütz & Sons company, which has been producing knitting machines for generations, is in financial difficulties. Managing Director Michael Bogenschütz comes back from a trip to China where he spoke to Chinese investors. He tells his father, senior partner Paul Bogenschütz, that he had conversations with customers. The gnarled patriarch celebrates his ninetieth birthday with his children. In passing, Michael's wife informs the two sisters who are also involved in the company that the company is doing very badly and that Michael has already given his house to the bank. Michael puts all his hopes in a major order that the company has in prospect. During a visit to the Chinese delegation, Paul rudely opposes the involvement of the Chinese, whose business conduct he clearly criticizes. Michael also gives the guests who want to take over the company a preliminary rejection. He tries to get more loans from the local bank manager, who is also his tennis partner, but he only wants to give them in return for collateral. Michael lets out his anger about this while playing sports together by bombarding him with tennis balls. His despair over the situation grows. He drinks too much and trades in his Porsche when he learns that the contract that has been promised has not been achieved.
Senior Paul, meanwhile, is also unsuccessful with the banker and therefore transfers his house to the bank. With his supervisor Agnieschka, he takes a trip to his daughters in Cologne and Berlin in order to persuade them to take the same step. At Marlies, who runs several yoga studios, he meets with rejection, which leads to a heated verbal argument with her. Paul gets drunk in a brothel and has to be brought back by the police. Marianne, on the other hand, agrees to give back the house that her father once gave her. On this occasion, Paul gets to know her long-term partner. This is an American Jew who lost his grandparents in Auschwitz and therefore wanted nothing to do with the older generation of Germans. Paul explains that although he believed the propaganda at the time, he was still very young. Ever since he had to see what happened in the concentration camps, he has felt deep shame. At the same time he expresses his bitterness about the war experiences and tells us, crying, that he could never forget them.
Meanwhile Michael can no longer pay the salaries in the company. The staff complained about the lack of communication. The major order is not placed, instead the customer relocates its production to Bangladesh. Surprisingly, his brother Matthias, who lives in Thailand, appears, who prefers an alternative way of life. He plans to marry a Thai woman and wants to have his share of the company paid out in order to participate in a beach bar. However, he accepts that this is not possible in the current situation and would have no objection to a sale to the Chinese.
Michael finally travels to Shanghai for renewed negotiations, where he is accompanied by his sister Marlies. She has the idea of producing textile machines for yoga clothing with ecologically sustainable production. The Chinese are still only interested in buying and impose further conditions, such as leaving the employers' association and union. The siblings agree to sell, but only against an employment guarantee for the employees and the retention of the patent for health textiles with the family. The reason given by Marlies that, due to the morning exercises that are common in China and which could also be introduced in Germany, this is not required, makes the Chinese delegation very happy. The plan is to continue to produce machines with this patent, to compete with the Chinese if the company is successful and to bring back the previous employees. Senior boss Paul, who has a veto right, is told via Skype that the negotiations had shown that the Chinese will invest, but the company will remain family-owned. Satisfied with this outcome, he closes his eyes forever.
In the final sequence, two workers on a tour of the factory explain technical problems to the new Chinese head of the company in the broadest Swabian language, which the interpreter does not understand.
background
The film addresses the generation conflict and the clash of two cultures in a drastically changing world. Bogenschütz & Söhne is a fictional company, but the story of the film is based on real models.
Director and screenwriter Hannes Stöhr comes from Hechingen , where a large part of the film was shot.
Soundtrack
Global Player - Where we are is in front is the fourth collaboration for composer Florian Appl and screenwriter / director Hannes Stöhr after Berlin is in Germany (2001), the Tatort episode Odin's Rache (2003) and One Day In Europe (2005). Paul Kalkbrenner and Stöhr have already worked together. In 2008, Kalkbrenner played the leading role in Stöhr's film Berlin Calling and composed the soundtrack for the film, which was awarded platinum in 2012. Fritz Kalkbrenner sings another theme song for the film with Willing (as with Sky & Sand in Berlin Calling ). On the soundtrack can be found both already known pieces by Fritz and Paul Kalkbrenner, the Florian Appl, supported by the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg were reinterpreted, as well as parts of film music with remixes of the two brothers.
criticism
“The film undeniably gains inspiring moments from this accumulation of material, which convincing actors play out sometimes in a funny, sometimes poignant way. But the actual story usually stops during these special pieces. It does not tell how the crisis affects the main character Michael Bogenschütz. There is no development between the starting point and the end point of the misery. "
“[Stöhr's] feeling for Hechingen and the people in the provinces, including his awareness of tradition, as far as the Swabian brotherly comedy from Willy Reichert to the Erwin figure of Schultheiß is concerned, is flawless. Here someone loves the milieu he is talking about, with all the warts, quirks and annoyances it has to offer. "
“Christoph Bach, Inka Friedrich, who was born in Freiburg, and Ulrike Folkerts as Archers' children are also convincing. JinJin Harder can only be admired for her brilliant poker face when translating and her almost accent-free German. "
“... with a typically Swabian dialogue joke, a wonderful setting between dreamy country life and Asian coolness, as well as authentic characters with rough edges, the film with a regional touch becomes a description of the general economic situation. Charm and depth in one. "
"Well-told, impressively photographed and convincingly played tragic comedy of the entertaining kind."
“Other countries celebrate major military feats on national holidays, but the founding myth of modern Germany is the economic miracle. And that is what Walter Schultheiß embodies as family patriarch Paul Bogenschütz so captivating and touching the heart that it brings tears to your eyes again and again. "
“There is a lot of swabbing in the film, a lot of Maultaschen are eaten, but the film is not a homeland schnulze. It is not a film by Swabians for Swabians. The Swabian Alb is everywhere - in East Westphalia and Central Hesse, in Upper Bavaria and Lower Saxony. Everywhere where German medium-sized companies are exposed to global competition, this story can and will repeat itself in one way or another. No question about it: In the next few years, more and more Chinese will buy up German companies. If you want to know how these transactions could work out tomorrow, you should watch this film. "
Stylistic devices
The aerial view of the Swabian Alb with Hohenzollern Castle is shown several times as a contrast, alternating with the skyline of Shanghai .
Roads on which vehicles are accelerated using computer animation are shown several times from a bird's eye view. In one sequence, the desperate entrepreneur drives his Porsche through a roundabout several times, accelerating up to top speed.
During the senior boss's trip, his view of the streets and landscapes is repeatedly blurred with black and white images from the war.
Senior boss Paul and a few supporting roles speak Swabian . Communication with the Chinese is fully translated by the interpreter.
Web links
- Global Player - Where we are severally front in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Global Player - Where we are is at the front at filmportal.de (with trailer and photo gallery)
- Official website
Individual evidence
- ↑ Approval certificate for global players - where we are at the front . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , September 2013 (PDF; test number: 140 664 K).
- ↑ Global Player - Where we're at the front , imdb.com.
- ↑ Global Player - Where We Are Isch Front at filmportal.de , accessed on January 14, 2014
- ^ News website of the film
- ↑ 39th Game Week Global Player in the Stuttgart Kinothek. In: globalplayerfilm.com. Retrieved July 17, 2018 .
- ↑ Global Player Theater. Schwarzwälder Bote, accessed on July 17, 2018 .
- ↑ Global Player Goes radio play. In: monika-wojtyllo.com. October 20, 2015, accessed July 18, 2018 .
- ^ Criticism on filmstarts.de
- ↑ Stuttgarter Zeitung, October 2, 2013
- ↑ http://www.badische-zeitung.de/kino-rezensions/die-konferenz-schektiven-billiger--75839840.html
- ^ German film and media rating
- ↑ http://www.programmkino.de/cms/links.php?link=2242
- ↑ http://www.schwarzwaelder-bote.de/inhalt.hechingen-die-stadt-glaenzt-und-strahlt-im-kino.83ae96b6-0b00-4da0-866b-7e9c919dc684.html
- ↑ http://www.manager-magazin.de/politik/weltwirtschaft/a-929051.html