Ursula or the unworthy life

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Movie
Original title Ursula or the unworthy life
Country of production Switzerland
original language German
Publishing year 1966
length 88 minutes
Rod
Director Reni Mertens and Walter Marti
production Teleproduction, Zurich
camera Rolf Lyssy , Hans-Peter Roth
occupation

Ursula or the unworthy life is a Swiss documentary about the development opportunities of severely disabled people. Helene Weigel made the comment . The film was released in 1966 and caused a sensation.

background

The film's title quotes the 1920 published magazine Release of the Destruction of Life life of Karl Binding and Alfred Hoche , the later Nazi ideology should abet. In 1960, the federal law on disability insurance came into force in Switzerland. According to this law, support was only provided for children who were capable of development. The film work with the educationalist Mimi Scheiblauer in corresponding institutions made it clear how little attention was paid to the potential of disabled people at the time, and probably also initiated a change in the care and support of those affected. However, Georg Feuser raised chances for a dignified encounter in his lecture . The construction and reconstruction of the hopeless case of September 28, 2009 shows that the criticized conditions are far from being completely overcome, and mentioned in particular the dangers and additional restrictions that hospitalization entails: "Problems are in a certain way institution-related and homemade [...] “With“ measures born out of good intentions ”,“ people with severe impairments in their personal development are massively hindered ”. The film shows that the disability of those affected also consists "in their exclusion from participation in social intercourse, from education and culture and through their inclusion in institutions and homes", "therefore in a high degree of isolation [...] and not in to look for her person ”. Feuser analyzed several scenes from the old film in order to highlight the opportunities for communication and development that can be stimulated by simple interaction .

Ursula Bodmer and Anita Utzinger

While documenting the educational work of Mimi Scheiblauer, the filmmakers became particularly aware of one of their pupils: Ursula Bodmer, born in 1951, was not accepted by her mother after she was born and was kept in homes for the first years of her life. When the child was eight months old, it turned out that he could neither hear nor see. Intellectual disability, epileptic seizures, and a lag in growth also showed up over time. Ursula Bodmer was only given a short life expectancy. She was classified as not capable of education and received no funding until her future foster mother, Anita Utzinger, discovered her in a home in Toggenburg . Ursula Bodmer was six years old at the time and had spent most of her life lying in bed and screaming. Remedial pedagogue for deaf-blind children Anita Utzinger had completed further studies in the USA and completed an internship at the Perkins School for the Blind . She took the child into her family; her father took over the guardianship of Ursula. A trip to the USA, where an expert opinion was drawn up that awarded Ursula Bodmer a certain educational ability - which in Switzerland was a prerequisite for receiving support from the disability insurance at all - and the appeals for donations in Zurich newspapers for this trip made Ursula Bodmer known. Her disability was more extensive than that of Helen Keller , who Anita Utzinger had met in the USA; therefore she could never acquire their skills. Ursula Bodmer was looked after by Anita Utzinger for around five decades before her now elderly foster mother placed her in the "Tanne" in Langnau am Albis , an institution for deaf-blind people. Ursula Bodmer still spends most of the weekends with Anita Utzinger.

Life elsewhere

Anita Utzinger got in touch with the cameraman Rolf Lyssy again in 2009 . Thereupon he asked whether Ursula Bodmer was still alive, and then, decades after Ursula or the unworthy life, made a second film about Ursula Bodmer and her foster mother in 2011. This film was released in January 2012 under the title Ursula - Leben in Anderswo . It contains numerous excerpts from the first film about Ursula Bodmer. Ursula Bodmer herself does not know that she is a main character in two films.

criticism

The film Ursula or the unworthy life premiered at the Bellevue cinema in Zurich and sparked strong reactions. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung particularly emphasized the strong approval the film received from the audience. In Zurich week was Ursula or unworthy life of Werner Want Berger as "the finest, most beautiful, most touching and comforting film that Switzerland has produced for many years" means.

Awards

  • EDI premium, particularly valuable, 1967
  • Evangelical Film Guild of Germany, “best month”, 1968
  • Catholic film + television league in Germany, “best of the year”, 1970
  • Zurich Film Award , 1970

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Esther Fischer-Homberger, The world of deafblind Ursula , Journal 21, January 11, 2012
  2. ↑ Link to Georg Feuser's lecture
  3. ↑ Gisela Blau, Elsewhere is here and now , January 6, 2012
  4. ↑ Film magazine
  5. ^ Outnow.ch
  6. ↑ a b Press booklet on Ursula - Life in Elsewhere (PDF; 722 kB)
  7. ↑ I was caught up in myself - Denise Jeitziner's interview with Rolf Lyssy, Tagesanzeiger , January 12, 2012
  8. ↑ Quoted from a page from Langjahr-Film .