Märkische bricks

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Movie
Original title Märkische bricks
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1989
length 34 minutes
Rod
Director Volker Koepp
script Gotthold Gloger
Volker Koepp
production DEFA , KAG document
music Mario Peters
camera Thomas Plenert
cut Yvonne Loquens

Märkische Ziegel , is a documentary film by the DEFA studio for documentaries by Volker Koepp from 1989 .

action

In 1888 a railway bridge was built over the Havel in Zehdenick , and large clay deposits were discovered . Brickworks have been setting the rhythm of the city for exactly 100 years . In this film, seasoned brickworkers and young apprentices express themselves frankly and critically about their working and living conditions.

The film begins in spring 1988 with a trip on the Havel under a pedestrian bridge in Zehdenick, past several brickworks, in which five of the 40 kilns are still in operation today, and ends in a port where the finished bricks are loaded onto ships become. In place of the pedestrian bridge there was a road bridge until 1945, which was destroyed in the Second World War. In 1951 the drawbridge was renewed with a two-lane carriageway and was considered a symbol of the city until it was demolished in 1979. Since then, the citizens of Zehdenicke have wanted it to be renewed, as one resident tells us and shows photos from the past.

The camera shows an overview of the completely outdated production equipment, which is still in operation. A joker even put an official memorial sign on one of the machines . To prove that not much has changed in 36 years, an excerpt from the GDR newsreel Der Augenzeuge No. 13/52 is played. An employee who is responsible for lighting the stoves complains that there are no young people to work in the brickworks because the work is far too hard. He explains that his job has not changed in 100 years. Three other colleagues are busy all day in a draughty hall, stacking bricks that have come out of the kiln with their hands on small trucks . They have to manage 13,000 stones per shift. This work has always remained the same over the past 100 years, although technology has found its way into many places. But despite everything, the working conditions are not the best. When the camera wanders through the washrooms and lounges of the workers, one can understand the lethargic, illusion-free answers of the respondents, most of whom have been working in the company for 20 to 35 years. Hardly any tiles on the walls, damp, cracked, stained concrete, there is water on the floor, the taps are dripping, crooked and defective locker rooms, etc. Although the colleagues turn to all sorts of places, such as the management, the union management and others they only got promises, but nothing happens, which is why nobody feels like doing social work anymore. The man who talks about it while he is changing because he is attending the master craftsman's course has been with the company for 19 years.

But we also get to know two young girls who will finish their apprenticeships in the summer. One of the two will study building materials technology for a few years from September and then have to continue to work in the company for at least three years. This is a condition for delegation to study. The other is convinced that she will not work here for 35 years like her older colleague.

production

Märkische Ziegel is the first part of the Märkische trilogy that Volker Koepp shot about a brick factory in the small town of Zehdenick in the Brandenburg region. Because of its insights into the inhumane working conditions, the film was initially withheld by the GDR censors .

The premiere took place on October 7, 1989 at the 38th Mannheim International Film Week . The first showing in the GDR took place at the 12th National Documentary and Short Film Festival of the GDR for cinema and television in the week from October 9, 1989. The regular screenings in the cinemas began on October 19, 1989 with the series offers at the Babylon cinema in Berlin . The film was first broadcast on television on December 17, 1990 on West 3 .

The dramaturgy was in the hands of Annerose Richter .

criticism

Detlef Friedrich writes in the Berliner Zeitung about the cameraman Thomas Plenert :

“But actually he no longer just presents photography, but graphics, made out of professionalism and love for home. This camera looks straight into the face: powerful. permanent worker faces. "

Klaus M. Fiedler finds in the Neue Zeit that the film paints a realistic, unvarnished picture of a small industrial town.

The lexicon of international films says that this film is a depressing account of outdated production methods and disaffected people.

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of October 14, 1989, p. 12
  2. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of October 21, 1989, p. 10
  3. ↑ Neue Zeit of October 17, 1989, p. 4
  4. ↑ Märkische bricks. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed July 9, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  5. ^ New Germany of October 18, 1989, p. 4