Sunday driver

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title Sunday driver
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1963
length 87 minutes
Rod
Director Gerhard Klein
script Karl Georg Egel ,
Wolfgang Kohlhaase
production DEFA , KAG "Berlin"
music Wilhelm Neef
camera Helmut Bergmann
cut Evelyn Carow
occupation

Sunday driver is a German feature film from the DEFA studio for feature films by Gerhard Klein from 1963 .

action

Six Leipzig citizens intend to leave the GDR together on August 12, 1961 for West Berlin . The doctor Dr. Thinker whose wife is cruising the Mediterranean at the same time and who is unsure that the timing is right. To his surprise, the X-ray machine that he ordered a long time ago was delivered to his practice on that very day . Mr. Spiessack, an interior designer with his wife Friedchen, who completely devastated his apartment before leaving his apartment, but left the message “We'll be back” and a letter to the SED on the wall . Spiessack is the initiator of this peculiar tour group because, as a former lieutenant in the German Wehrmacht , he wants to have received information about an impending war, which prompts him to flee to West Germany . The hypochondriac Mr. Teichert wants to go to the West because his doctor is already there and only he can treat him properly. His wife Miriam writes a correct notice of termination to his institute, which she puts in a mailbox before leaving. The hairdresser Rosentreter has his 30-year-old Mercedes-Benz checked out and refueled in the workshop. Together with the doctor's Wartburg and the Teichert family's Trabant , they form a group heading for Berlin. Only the two youngsters Sabine Spiessack and Gernulf Teichert, both studying at the University of Leipzig , have no idea of ​​their parents' plans and are surprised by them.

This is followed by a journey with obstacles: they are already turned back on the autobahn, as this is blocked in the direction of Berlin . So the route via the country roads is chosen, but this also brings problems, because they are repeatedly diverted through several construction sites. The Mercedes also causes problems. Since the workshop apparently did not work properly, it loses all of its cooling water . After tightening all screw connections and filling up with water from a nearby lake, the journey can continue. After it even has to go over dirt roads, a stop is made in an excursion restaurant, where Sabine tries to stop the journey by plugging the exhaust pipes , but does not succeed. But then the Mercedes has the next problem: even though Mr. Rosentreter paid 100 marks for gasoline money in the workshop, the tank is already empty. So with the doctor's castle to the next village, where Gerulf is looking for a phone to cancel his rowing club's participation in a regatta for the next day . However, this is located in a dance hall, which he may only enter after paying the entrance fee. This is linked to participation in a lottery, the first prize of which Gernulf then wins. In the meantime, Dr. Thinker the desired gasoline for a post of the People's Police , but still has to treat an injured person and eat a piece of cake as thanks. Only then and of course without the first prize will the journey continue.

But the drive doesn't go long this time either, because the Mercedes breaks the front axle due to the bad roads, causing it to fail completely. Now a dispute arises in the group about how the onward journey should be organized and what things can be left behind. While the two young people have withdrawn to a nearby forest tavern, a first column of the NVA drives by and demands that the road be cleared. The soldiers help push the Mercedes off the road. The others find out about the nearby hotel through Sabine and Gernulf. Here they leave some of their luggage behind and Mr. Spiessack telephones the car dealer who wants to buy the vehicles in Berlin that he should also take this with him to Berlin when he collects the Mercedes with a tow truck. So the journey can continue with two cars at night.

Now they are stopped by moving tank columns and Spiessack concludes that the war he predicted is imminent. They look for a refuge off the road, which they expand militarily under the guidance of the lieutenant. After enjoying a bottle of Soviet cognac , donated by Mr Rosentreter, the characters of the individual come to light. At dawn they hear the noises of a tracked vehicle, which is not from a tank, as they suspect, but from an agricultural vehicle pulling a plow behind it. Sabine separates from her father in an argument and Gernulf follows her. Six of them are now taking their cars to the train station in Königs-Wusterhausen , because the road to Berlin is closed and now they want to take the train to Berlin from here. Dr. Denker decides not to go any further and wants to go back to Leipzig. While the remaining five people go to the platform, the announcement of the Ministry of the Interior of the GDR is stuck in front of the station, on which the closure of the border to West Berlin is published. At the same time, the station loudspeaker announces that the train is no longer traveling through the west. While Dr. Thinker is still having breakfast in the Mitropa restaurant, the five of them come back and together they go back to Leipzig.

The Spiessack family comes back to their self-smashed apartment and finds the police there with helpers - Mr. Spiessack forgot to turn off the hot water tap when he left. Ms. Teichert promises her husband that she will take the dismissal on her head and that he has nothing to do with it. Mr. Rosentreter learns that his Mercedes has already been picked up and sold at an estimated price, which is a huge financial loss. Dr. Denker irons his wife's clothes and is looking forward to his work with the new X-ray machine. Sabine and Gernulf meet in a lecture at the university.

Production and publication

Sunday driver was shot under the working title Kehr zurück vorwärts as a black and white film by the artistic working group "Berlin" and had its world premiere on August 30, 1963 in the Babylon cinema in Berlin . The film was first broadcast on television on August 12, 1993 on ORB .

The dramaturgy was in the hands of Klaus Wischnewski .

The film was also released on DVD.

criticism

In the Berliner Zeitung , Dr. Manfred Jelenski:

"Not a big or earth-shattering work of art, but a film that is fun."

In the Critique of the New Age , I wrote:

“An intellectual film should be intelligent everywhere. It is not always this one. Which is very harmful to him. "

The lexicon of international film writes that the staging uncertain, fluctuating between satire and deeper meaning and ultimately implausible film, draws a certain effect from the good performance. Especially because of its historical explosiveness and the recognizable tendentious attempts to deal with the building of the wall in the film of the GDR, make it interesting from today's perspective.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of September 3, 1963, p. 6
  2. ↑ Neue Zeit of September 5, 1963, p. 5
  3. ↑ Sunday driver. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 1, 2018 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used