Visa for Ocantros
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Visa for Ocantros |
| Country of production | GDR |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1974 |
| length | 152 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Kurt Jung-Alsen |
| script | Kurt Jung-Alsen, Wolfgang Held (scenario) |
| production |
DEFA on behalf of East German television |
| music | Helmut Nier |
| camera | Helmut Bergmann |
| occupation | |
| |
Visa for Ocantros is a two-part DEFA - television film commissioned by the television of the GDR , which was made at the DEFA Studio for Feature Films. The action is set on the fictional island of Ocantros in the north-western Indian Ocean , a former British colony . The main actors are Gojko Mitić , Alfred Müller , Barbara Brylska and Angel Stojanow . The first broadcast (both parts) took place on December 25, 1974. The writer involved in the scenario, Wolfgang Held, developed the novel of the same name from the original , which appeared in 1976 and was published several times until 1990.
Further technical data
- Dramaturge: Ottomar Lang
action
On the British colony of Ocantros, which gained independence two years ago, an attack on Prime Minister Henry Kulaman was carried out during a church service . Kulaman is injured by gunfire from a submachine gun , but survives. The assassin can escape undetected.
Technician Martin Katrup flies to Ocantros from the GDR . On the plane he met the Polish journalist Jagoda who wanted to write a report about Ocantros. Katrup learns from Jagoda that there are no natural resources on the island and that the inhabitants live from fishing and agriculture. They form a peaceful, multi-ethnic and multi-religious society. The government tries to take a neutral position between the Cold War power blocs , but wants to undertake social reforms to overcome the backwardness of the colonial era. This also includes the expansion of the school system and adequate medical care. Katrup's job is to accelerate the completion of the only printing house on Ocantros so that school books can finally be produced in their own country. The project is supported by the GDR.
After landing on Ocantros, Katrup and Jagoda are accommodated in the "Windsor Hotel" in Port Albert, the port of Ocantros. From Förster, an employee of the GDR embassy in the capital Ocantros City, Katrup learns that his two work colleagues Harry Tempel and Heinz Ahlert have been missing for days. His contact person in the print shop is the ocantric brigadier Maha, whom he already knows from his training days in the GDR. Förster asks Katrup not to be active in the Tempel / Ahlert missing person case because they are only guests in the country and foreign policy involvement should be prevented at all costs.
When GDR boxes with rollers for the printing plant are being unloaded in Port Albert, an incident occurs. Strangers set the boxes on fire. When dock workers notice them and pursue the perpetrators, the arsonists are shot by a stranger with a submachine gun, so that it remains unclear who is behind the attack. The killer escapes.
With the two missing persons, their Wartburg car has also disappeared. The Soviet pediatrician Dr. Ostschenko finds Katrup the first trace of the car. The doctor found a car emblem on a treated child . The trail leads Katrup and Maha to Ben Shakim's garage, but he denies knowing anything about the Wartburg . But a journeyman of Shakim secretly sends Katrup a message. He wants to meet him in the "Yellow Dragon"; apparently to inform Katrup about the missing Wartburg .
Katrup and Maha therefore go to the "Yellow Dragon", a restaurant with a dance company. Shortly before, Katrup's hotel room was searched despite his presence. Since Katrup was in the shower, he did not notice that the burglar stole a pocket knife and glasses. In “Yellow Dragon”, Katrup is shocked to find that his contact was killed unnoticed by the other guests and the staff - Katrup's pocket knife is stuck in his back. Katrup and Maha can leave the restaurant without first noticing the dead person. Both break into Shakim's workshop, where they find the engine of the Wartburg . While Maha is calling the police , Katrup is knocked down by a guard. Maha and the officers arrive in time to prevent Katrup's murder. A thorough search of the workshop by the police also found stolen printing rollers. Shakim is arrested, but protests his innocence.
Katrup is arrested for the murder of the journeyman in the "Yellow Dragon" and locked in a cell. Here Katrup meets the terminally ill beggar Saphir. As he helps Saphir with a fit of weakness, the beggar confides in him and tells Katrup that the two disappeared have gone to a dangerous place, but they have ignored his warnings.
Since the criminal investigation shows that Shakim's journeyman was not killed with a penknife but with a stiletto and that the penknife was only placed in the wound to draw suspicion on Katrup, the mechanic is released from custody. Ocantric security police officer Branco informs Katrup that a large-scale conspiracy against the Kulaman government is underway. The two missing work colleagues, Tempel and Ahlert, allegedly called their wives in the GDR from South Africa and informed them that they had fled from Ocantros, i.e. that they had fled the republic . Katrup considers this to be impossible, since the two disappeared u. a. on August 13th (1961) proved that they are reliable comrades who would never defend against the racist system in South Africa .
Meanwhile, prepare the CIA - Resident Pamela, who is officially as animal trader on Ocantros working together with peers, an employee of the BAMC (British American Mining Company), a coup against the government Kulaman ago. The conspirators are also responsible for the assassination attempt on the premier, the disappearance of the two GDR mechanics, the arson attack on the boxes in Port Albert and the murder of the arsonists. The submachine gun operator is a hit man named Matthews who was hired by them. The military coup intended by the Air Force - Colonel Skindara, a former Major of the Royal Air Force , are performed. The new government under Skindara is to grant the mining company mining rights.
While in custody with Saphir, Katrup learned a name from the beggar: Tiki Laman. Jagoda and Katrup go to the shop of the same name, but only meet Ben Shakim, who has since been released for lack of evidence. Shakim is a partner in the business that sells goods of all kinds. Katrup puts Shakim under pressure: Wall hooks were found in the wreckage of the "Wartburg", which has since been found, and these are also sold in Tiki Laman's shop. Shakim admits that Tempel and Ahlert wanted to use the wall hooks to visit a holy place , the “Seven Gates of Death”.
Katrup's search for the missing is hampered by the military coup. Together with Jagoda and Dr. Ostschenko makes Katrup on the way to the "Seven Gates". Tempel and Ahlert are trapped in a cave there and struggled to survive. Eventually they find pitchblende by chance , which explains why the CIA and the corporation staged a conspiracy against the Kulaman government: Ocantros owns uranium that the corporation is supposed to mine. This can only happen with a government that is politically oriented towards the West. The Uranium discovery was unknown to the British authorities.
During the coup, Branco is murdered by soldiers. Branco's secretary turns out to be Pamela's employee, who was therefore informed about all steps of the security police from the first source. But the coup failed because the “ mob ” sided with Kulaman and the coup air troops were isolated. Pamela's associate Rabin kills both Saphir and Ben Shakim. Eventually he is killed in revenge by Saphir's sister Sheila.
When the coup collapses, Katrup, with the help of Jagoda, manages to get Dr. Ostschenkos as well as Maha and the workers from the printing works to free the disappeared. Matthews had blown the cave on Pamela's orders. Matthews was also responsible for the disappearance of the two mechanics: To disguise the uranium find, Matthews loosened the two cave explorers' descent ropes so that they remained helplessly trapped in the cave. While the workers are freeing the missing from the cave, Maha is hunting Matthews in the jungle . Matthews falls into a river on a torn vine, despite Maha's rescue attempts; its end remains open. Pamela has her residence permit for Ocantros withdrawn and she has to leave the country. The printing plant is inaugurated. Your first product is the first edition of the new newspaper “Ocantros News”. The most important news is the announcement of the establishment of a state-owned mining company.
Production notes
The supporting roles are mainly filled with foreign students . Neither in the film nor in the booklet is any information about the location of the outdoor shots . They probably took place in Bulgaria , which u. a. had already served as an exotic backdrop for the five-part TV series The Green Monster . Lead actor Alfred Müller commented on the film as follows:
I think “Visa for Ocantros” succeeded in telling something about the complicated development process of a country that has to defend and consolidate its still young independence in an exciting, adventurous storyline. Ocantros is a fantasy island, but it is easy to establish current relationships. The plot is set in our days in a political sense. In addition, with the character of Martin Katrup, the audience's interest is once directed to a citizen whose activity we have only seen from reportage films.
Quoted from the booklet of the DVD edition.
Quote
I'm not James Bond .
Katrup
Lore
It is not known whether the film was shown again after 1974. In 2010 it was edited on DVD by icestorm . The DVD run length is only 120 minutes in contrast to the original length of 152 minutes.
literature
- Annual film bibliographic report 1974 , Berlin (Henschel) 1977, pp. 40, 340.
- Peter Beyer / Hansjürgen Schäfer: Diversity from morning to midnight , in: Neues Deutschland from December 28, 1974
- Wolfgang Held: Visa for Ocantros , 1st edition Berlin ( Verlag Das Neue Berlin ) 1976.