Friends to the death
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Friends to the death |
| Original title | The Bumblebee Flies Anyway |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1999 |
| length | 95 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Martin Duffy |
| script | Jennifer Sarja |
| production |
Steven Haft , Larry Meistrich |
| music | Christopher Tyng |
| camera | Stephen Kazmierski |
| cut | Suzanne Pillsbury |
| occupation | |
| |
Friends to the Death (Original title: The Bumblebee Flies Anyway ) is an American medical thriller by Martin Duffy , the plot of which is based on Robert Cormier's novel The Bumblebee Flies Anyway . Elijah Wood plays the main role of a 17-year-old amnesia patient. The film premiered in September 1999 at the Deauville Film Festival.
action
17-year-old Barney Snow wakes up in a hospital after a car accident. He cannot remember the time before the accident or his family. With his permission he becomes part of a medical experiment consisting of medication and hypnosis sessions. He is left in the dark about the goal and method, but he hopes that this will bring back memories of his previous life.
Everyday hospital life is boring. Employment opportunities are few and far between. While exploring the hospital corridors, Barney discovers a red convertible prop, as he knows from his memories of the accident, in a remote wing . Furthermore, a projector screen hangs in front of the grille. His attending physician Dr. Harriman follows and starts straight away with explanations. The memories of the accident were implanted in his mind by means of a projection film under drugs. Like his fellow patients, Barney suffered from an incurable disease. Prof. Croft's ambitious research project envisages the erasure or at least walling of long-term memory. The basis of the cancer is thereby removed. Barney's full recovery from bone cancer would be the result. The fact that Barney is an orphan predestines him for the experiment. He grew up in three different foster families and was unable to establish a solid bond.
Barney is horrified. He doubts whether participating in the experiment was the right decision. Erasing his identity is a hell of a price to him. He stops taking the medication so that memories of his mother, who was killed in an accident ten years ago, come back. Barney is ready to put an end to his life. Together with his fellow patient Mazzo, who is also tired of life, he goes to the attic. After an emotional moment of pause, Barney pushes the wheelchair with the already unconscious Mazzo out of the skylight. No impact can be heard. The "Hummel", a wheelchair converted into a kind of soap box , flies into the sky. And Barney decides to start over.
background
The following alternative film titles are known for this youth drama:
- The Bumblebee Project
- Snow
- Deadly Experiments - The Bumblebee Project
The English-language original title refers to the legend that bumblebees should not actually be able to fly due to their physique ( bumblebee paradox ). Only the insect's ignorance about the disproportion between wing area and body weight enables it to fly. In the film, by obliterating a bone cancer patient's memory, this ignorance is mimicked in order to achieve his or her recovery.
literature
- Robert Cormier: Deadly Experiments. Bertelsmann, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-570-30057-9 .
Web links
- Friends to death in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Friends to death at Rotten Tomatoes (English)