Heaven and Hell (1994)

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Movie
Original title heaven and hell
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1994
length 84 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Hans-Christian Schmid
script Hans-Christian Schmid
production Jakob Claussen
Thomas Wöbke
music Norbert Jürgen Schneider
camera Peter Aichholzer
cut Jacqueline von Brück
occupation

Heaven and Hell is an 84-minute German television film from 1994. It was produced by Jakob Claussen and Thomas Wöbke for Südwestfunk . The director was Hans-Christian Schmid , who also wrote the script . The film won the Foundlingspreis at the 1995 Filmkunstfest .

action

After her divorce, Birgit moves from Munich to the countryside with her eleven-year-old daughter Nina . The mother does not have any adjustment problems, but Nina is shy and feels isolated. To Birgit's amazement, Nina's behavior changes when she joins a boy scout group led by her religion teacher Ms. Singer. Here Nina experiences recognition and security. Like the village pastor, Ms. Singer belongs to the inner-Catholic sect of the "Legion of Holy Angels". This sect educates its members to fanatical piety and prepares them for the decisive battle between demons and angels .

Nina is persuaded that her mother is in sin because of her divorce and her relationship with Frank . When it is explained to her that a black kitten given by her mother serves the demons as a “translator”, she drowns the animal to protect her mother from the demons. This then forbids Nina to continue attending the group meetings of the boy scouts, with the result that the girl completely loses trust in her mother.

When Ms. Singer does not allow Nina's best friend Miriam to take part in an important consecration because she is demon-possessed because of her black hair, and Nina explains that her mother is already infested with demons, the girl decides to join Miriam in a river drown so that their mother is not lost forever. Miriam can be saved at the last second, whereupon Nina distances herself from the angel teaching.

background

According to the director, the film is based on a true story and describes the "machinations of the Engelwerk ". In 1992, 30 families threatened a school near Augsburg with a boycott , as their children cried and prayed desperately after religious instruction for fear of demons; they had previously been given a leaflet describing the hell punishments for forgotten prayers.

The representation of the scout group should be based on the Catholic Scouting Union of Europe (KPE). The authenticity of the film in this regard is questionable, however, since on April 11, 1996 a criminal judgment by the Stuttgart Regional Court ( Az. 17 O 190/96) was pronounced against the film producer and the relationship between the film and the KPE has not been allowed to be established since then . According to the KPE, Gong Verlag GmbH had already undertaken out of court in 1994 not to describe the background of the film as "authentic"; the publisher published a corresponding correction at that time. The Diocese of Augsburg officially defended the KPE in a press release and "emphatically opposed the allegations and allegations made in various media against (...) the young people in the KPE". Nevertheless, as a result of the film, the KPE was massively attacked in the press. In the opening credits of the film it is pointed out that the practice of the portrayed boy scout group does not correspond to the methodology of the groups in the ring of German scout associations and in the ring of German scout associations .

Reviews

The film was received positively overall, the acting performances and the haunting message of the film would have covered up individual weaknesses in the plot structure:

  • "Heaven and Hell" has its weaknesses as a film. Above all, the hastily harmonizing conclusion [...] is not convincing. Anyone who knows religiously damaged biographies knows how arduous the detachment processes can be until someone has freed himself from such “soul poisoning”. However, the film's critical potential is not diminished by the happy ending. His topic is not the ways to cure a "soul poisoning", but its genesis. The circumstances that can promote the persuasiveness and influence of sects are vividly demonstrated.
  • The film refers to the authentic case of an intra-church sect in southern Germany; it sees itself as a parable on seducibility through ideologies and as a psychogram of seducers. The haunted performance of the actors overlooks the all too simple and quick turnaround for good and takes the film's message, which is worth considering, seriously.
  • What particularly sticks in the memory are the dangerous seriousness and the unconditional determination on the children's faces and the slimy slyness of the religion teacher. Their bad doings met with the undivided approval of the Catholic priest. When the Südwestfunk presented the play to the press in Munich, conservative church representatives tried to raise the mood against the film. Director Schmid also received threats during the filming of his haunting, concentrated film debut.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Requiem / Hans-Christian Schmid  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; accessed on October 4, 2009@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.intro.de  
  2. ↑ Hans Strobel: Heaven and Hell - 1994 in: Kinder- und Jugendfilm Korrespondenz 62 (2/1995). ISSN  0721-8486
  3. ↑ Facsimile of the judgment of the Stuttgart Regional Court in: Ad Mariam Europa , No. 27, July 1996, pp. 16-19.
  4. ^ "Response to the agitation against KPE / SJM in the media", in: Pathfinder Mariens , 14. Jg., 2/1996, p. 2.
  5. ^ Bishop's Press Office Augsburg, statement on the film "Heaven and Hell" by Hans-Christian Strobel , December 22, 1994.
  6. ^ A b Matthias Wörther: Madness and Reality. ( Memento of the original from December 5, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ( PDF ; 511 kB) in: muk-publication 37. Munich, December 2007. ISSN 1614-4244 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / medienkompetenz.katholisch.de 
  7. ↑ Heaven and Hell. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed April 22, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  8. ↑ Der Spiegel 45/1994 of November 7, 1994, p. 258