Little big voice
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Little big voice |
| Country of production |
Austria , Germany |
| original language |
German , English |
| Publishing year | 2015 |
| length | 100 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Wolfgang Murnberger |
| script |
Rupert Henning , Eva Spreitzhofer , Michaela Ronzoni |
| production |
Thomas Hroch , Gerald Podgornig |
| music | Roman Kariolou |
| camera | Peter von Haller |
| cut | Britta Nahler |
| occupation | |
| |
Small Big Voice (spelling: Small Big Voice ) is a German-Austrian film drama that was shot in 2015 under the direction of Wolfgang Murnberger . It celebrated its premiere on December 8, 2015 on ORF 2 . On December 30, 2015, the film was broadcast on ARD .
action
It is 1955. The ten year old Benedikt grows up with his grandparents in a small village in Lower Austria . He is the child of an Austrian woman and an American black occupation soldier. His mother died when he was four years old and he never met his father. He had to experience intolerance and racial hostility from a young age, not only from his peers, but also from his grandfather, who was wounded by a US bullet in World War II .
Benedict has a dream: he wants to go to the USA to look for his father there. And in order to achieve this, he wants to become part of the ensemble of the Vienna Boys' Choir, which is guesting all over the world . He runs away and takes the train to Vienna . He is accepted in the choir due to his exceptionally clear and high voice, but here too he encounters all kinds of resistance. On the one hand, the conservative Prefect Hans Roschek does not want to tolerate a “Negro” in the choir, and on the other hand, Benedikt is hostile to Kurt, the oldest member of the choir, who fears that Benedict might dispute his role as a solo singer.
The Jewish bandmaster Max Goldberg and his father Siegfried, whom Benedikt met by chance, gave Benedikt psychological support. He is also looking for a loved one: He misses his wife and still hopes to see her again one day, not realizing that she was shot by the National Socialists .
The old man wants to help Benedict and goes with him to the US headquarters to ask about Benedict's father. When they leave behind a photo of his mother and father, Alabama-born Jerry Delgado becomes aware of Benedict.
In the meantime Kurt has changed his attitude towards Benedict. He no longer sees him as a rival and leaves him the leading role in the upcoming important appearance of the Vienna Boys' Choir. In front of the assembled audience, Benedict sings the song of his father, which his mother always sang to him, in a modification of the program. The concert turns out to be a great success and it turns out that Jerry, Benedict's father, is present in the audience, so the boy meets his father for the first time.
Background information
Although the story of Benedict is fictional, it depicts the real everyday life of the children of occupation soldiers and Austrians, who were often stigmatized in the 1950s and who were often marginalized by classmates.
production
The shooting took place from March to April 2015 in Vienna and Lower Austria.
criticism
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung ruled that the film was “too much of the sentimental”. It is a “collection of stencils from the type case of the home kitsch” and too often the actors have to recite “integration speeches from today in Vienna from back then”.
The Frankfurter Rundschau, on the other hand, attested to the film that it "has what it takes to [...] become a classic for the Christmas season". The plot is "moving, but never sentimental or cheesy".
The German Press Agency described the film as a “soulful family film that also tackles difficult topics” and “friendly family entertainment at Christmas time”.
Web links
- Little big voice in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ursula Scheer: ARD film "Small Big Voice". Like in the most beautiful homeland film. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , December 30, 2015. Accessed December 31, 2015.
- ↑ Frankfurter Rundschau: “Small Big Voice”: The makings of a modern classic . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . ( fr.de [accessed on December 16, 2017]).
- ↑ Teresa Fischer, DPA : “Small Big Voice” on ARD. A film about the "oldest boy band in the world". In: Stern , December 30, 2015. Retrieved December 31, 2015.