They called him amigo
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | They called him amigo |
| Country of production | GDR |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1959 |
| length | 63 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Heiner Carow |
| script | Heiner Carow Wera kitchen master Claus kitchen master |
| music | Kurt Schwaen |
| camera | Helmut Bergmann |
| cut | Use Peters |
| occupation | |
| |
They called him Amigo is the title of a DEFA film shown for the first time in January 1959 in the cinemas of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) . About two months later, the film was shown on German TV (DFF), the state television broadcaster of the GDR, and in January 1974 also on ZDF . On the basis of the script written by Heiner Carow in collaboration with Wera Küchenmeister and Claus Küchenmeister , a children's book by Wera and Claus Küchenmeister was published in 1962 and in further editions in the 1970s and 1980s in the children's book publisher Berlin . The song "Who would not want to stay in life", which was part of the film music and is based on a text by Wera Küchenmeister and a melody by Kurt Schwaen , became known and popular in the GDR beyond the film .
action
The film and the book describe the experiences of the 15-year-old boy Rainer Meister, whose nickname is “Amigo”, in Berlin in 1939. Amigo finds the political prisoner Peter Grosse (“Pepp”) who escaped from a concentration camp in a backyard cellar. Amigo helps Pepp, although he knows the danger he is putting himself because of the communist attitudes of his parents and a previous arrest of his father. His brother Horst Meister, "Hotta" and his friend Axel Sinewski, "Sine" heard about Pepp and his support from Amigo, but were initially silent because of his urging. However, Sine later tells his father about Amigo's help for the fugitive prisoner. The father passes this on to the appropriate authorities. Amigo turns in to save his father and Pepp and is arrested and imprisoned in a concentration camp himself. Nevertheless, his father was arrested by the Gestapo and executed two years later in Plötzensee . At the end of the film, Amigo is shown as a tank soldier in the National People's Army after the war .
Background information
It was released on DVD in May 2006 by Icestorm Entertainment .
The Lexicon of International Films rates the film as follows, among other things:
- “... A technically solid, atmospherically precise film that convinces with its leadership. ... "
The Protestant Film Observer takes a completely opposite opinion :
- "Artistically insignificant, bombastic party building film [...], in which unfortunately the subject is the only thing that deserves respect."
Awards
- 1959: Film Festival of the VII World Festival of Youth and Students in Vienna - bronze medal for Heiner Carow
- 1959: Heinrich Greif Prize 1st class in a collective
Web links
- They called it Amigo in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- DEFA star hours: They called him Amigo (1959)
- They called him Amigo at the DEFA Foundation
Individual evidence
- ↑ They called him amigo. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Evangelischer Presseverband München, Review No. 500/1969