Island of the Swans (film)

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Movie
Original title Island of the Swans
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1983
length 85 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Herrmann Zschoche
script Herrmann Zschoche
Scenario: Ulrich Plenzdorf
Dramaturgy: Gabriele Herzog
production DEFA , KAG "Johannisthal"
music Peter Gotthardt
camera Günter Jaeuthe
cut Erika Lehmphul
occupation

The youth film Insel der Schwans is a DEFA drama from 1983 that sparked heated controversy in the GDR . The film was made under the direction of Herrmann Zschoches as an adaptation by Ulrich Plenzdorf based on the children's and youth book of the same name by Benno Pludra .

action

14-year-old Stefan Kolbe lives in the country. He likes life there. He has many adventures in nature with his friend Tasso in store for him. But against his will, he has to move to Berlin, where his family has been given an apartment in a desolate large housing estate under construction where his father works as a construction worker. Here he gets to know Hubert, a shy and fearful teenager. He quickly becomes friends with him. Hubert is blackmailed by Windbreaker, an older, youthful bully who verbally and politely opposes the adult world, but bullies younger people for no reason.

Stefan also comes into contact with girls quickly. The classmates Rita and Anja both fall in love with him. Due to his own sense of justice, Stefan finds little time for the girls, but tries to help his friend to defend himself against the adversary Windbreaker. He accompanies Hubert and takes on a kind of protective function. He encourages him to fight back against the bully. The dangers caused by the windbreaker are increased by the human-built environment: the elevator of Stefan's new building, like the shell buildings opposite, conceal places of conflict and dispute. Meanwhile, Stefan dreams of his constant desire to return to nature, to Tasso and his island of swans.

On the other hand, Stefan tries to do something about the desolation of his new residential area. His father had promised to meet the wishes of the younger neighbour's children and to have the construction workers create a beautiful playground with green meadows and tunnels. But instead, the father breaks his word: the makeshift playground , which the children have built on their own initiative, is concreted over by the construction workers. The relationship between father and son is in a crisis.

It comes to the final argument between Windbreaker and Stefan. During a fight between the young people in a building shell, Windbreaker threatens to push Stefan down into an empty elevator shaft - a fight for life and death. But Stefan can evade, and so the windbreaker threatens to fall down. But Stefan can save him at the last second.

criticism

  • film-dienst : Honest and socially critical film that advocates the interests of young people who (not only in the former GDR) are in danger of being mentally suffocated.

particularities

The film is staged very realistically and soberly. He describes the life situation of young people in the GDR in the 1980s.

Even issues that were uncomfortable for the GDR government at the time are mentioned, such as B. the fact that a high-rise apartment has a view of the radio tower in West Berlin or that West money was in demand. Other critical moments were censored before the premiere .

The film does not stick to the literary model. This not only applies to the level of detail, but also to the plot. So is z. B. a final fight between Stefan and Windbreaker does not exist in the book.

The location of the plot of the film is the new building area Marzahn between Alt-Marzahn, today's Landsberger Allee and Springpfuhl . The book - published in 1980 - is set in the six skyscrapers on the inner-city Fischerinsel . The book title thus has multiple meanings.

Controversy and censorship

In the GDR, the first politically motivated arguments about the island of the swans began after the rough cut was completed in 1982. The cultural and political authorities refused to allow the GDR cinema to run. Unpleasant sequences had to be cut out - for example the text of a nursery rhyme that critically deals with the father's broken word during the playground dispute. Also a scene from which it emerges that Windbreaker grows up with his unsuspecting grandparents (Marga Legal and Robert Trösch), who were anti-fascist resistance fighters. In addition, scenes had to be re-shot in which Stefan emphasized the advantages of new housing. In addition, the ending was open in the original version and it was unclear whether Stefan would manage to rescue Windbreaker from the shaft.

Despite these changes, the GDR press met with the most violent politically motivated criticism after the premiere. Especially in the Junge Welt and New Germany, under the leadership of Horst Knietzsch , there was a polemic against the "island of swans": The GDR reality was being distorted, the achievements of GDR socialism, the new housing in the GDR, would become a "concrete world" degraded.

Press sources of the GDR

  • “This is again not a DEFA film about us!”, Junge Welt May 3, 1983
  • “A DEFA film on the shady side” (Hans Eggert), Junge Welt 13 May 1983
  • "A distorted view of our reality" (Horst Knietzsch), Neues Deutschland May 4, 1983

literature

  • Birgit Dahlke (2002): Berlin - Frontstadt, Wall City, Metropole In: Hans-Christian Stillmark (ed.): Review of the literature of the GDR , Amsterdam, pp. 455–473
  • Wolfgang Gersch (2006): Scenes from a country. The GDR and its films , Berlin, (p. 191ff)
  • Felix Rutzen (2010): Film as a Mirror of Social Conflicts in the GDR. Audio-visual intention and press reception of the feature film "Insel der Schwäne" , Munich
  • Dagmar Schittly (2002): Between Direction and Regime. The film policy of the SED in the mirror of DEFA productions , Berlin
  • Guntram Vogt (2001): The City in Film. German feature films 1900–2000 , Marburg

Awards

Supporting actress Monika Lennartz was awarded a prize for her role as Frau Meinelt at the 3rd National Feature Film Festival of the GDR together with Simone von Zglinicki (must appear ). The award of further prizes to Insel der Schwans , however, was prevented because of the critical view of the film by order of state authorities.

Web links