Epic is not urban hyperbole when talking about
“Home from Home”, which runs in TIFF’s Masters series. It clocks in at 225 minutes, while the entire “Heimat” series of films comes to 56 hours (many of which we have shown at the Goethe-Institut Toronto and which you can find in our library), making it
the most monumental narrative work in film history. In a TIFF of (overly) long films, this one is perfectly timed.
Edgar Reitz started his first treatment for this “Heimat”, connected to his other films in approach and style as well as setting, in 2008 under the title “Das Paradies im Kopf” (“Paradise in your Head“), which makes sense when you watch the film, focusing on protagonist Jakob. The story in “Die Andere Heimat” (which literally and meaningfully translates as “Another Home”) centres on two brothers, bookworm Jakob and ex-soldier Gustav, who have to make an irreversible decision:
leaving or staying?
Edgar Reitz shows us a time in which
Germany was an emigration country, and people in search of another home and another chance had to gather both courage and faith in a better future to set out into the unknown (here Brazil), without a return ticket. Filmed at original locations in the rural Hunsrück region of south-west Germany and very much supported by and absorbing the local population, the picture follows the spirit of the famous “Heimat” trilogy and opens a cinematic panorama that strives for absolute authenticity when making ordinary people and their lives come to life.
While working on the project the research took on a personal significance when
Reitz was informed that there was a Brasilian Reitz clan –there are pockets still today in Brazil that speak the old-fashioned Hunsrück dialect--, whose ancestors had left the Hunsrück village of Hirschfeld. Almost certainly related to him, thus turning “Home from Home” into
an autobiography of his family of sorts.
Reitz is the elder statesman of German auteur cinema. His first feature “Mahlzeiten“ won Venice in 1967, where most of his films premiered –including this one two weeks ago to admiring reviews-- and were well awarded.
The past three decades he has dedicated to “Heimat”. The latest installment is accompanied by two books, one with a detailed narration and Reitz‘ rich commentary; the other “documenting” the (imaginary but somehow real) village of Schabbach in 150 film stills. About the elaborate set design the director says:
“We arrived at the conclusion that it was impossible to cinematically return to the past. We wanted more: We wanted to find our own position and redefine historic films. A historic film is mostly a document to our contemporary view on history. At this point we decided we had to build Schabbach, the village in our film, with everything this entails.” And what it entailed was sowing entire rye fields and weaving and sewing traditional clothes.
It is not surprising the film was
shot in black and white, fitting the historic topic as well as the drabness of pre-revolutionary 19th century rural life in Europe. Reitz comments in his book: “The decision to go with black and white was also influenced by the astounding resolution and sharpness of today’s cameras, which create a fascinating three-dimensionality without using dubious 3D technology. In some scenes, very sparingly, we used colour impressions in the b&w picture, which was also only possible with the latest technology.“
Throughout the development phase, Reitz considered the project’s current relevance:
“Wouldn’t a story that describes how people leave their homeland help us understand today’s immigrants better? What did a farewell look like in these days? For how long does someone carry the pain of that final goodbye into his other home?” Being the persevering, thoughtful artist, he has high hopes for the film’s impact on the viewer:
“Perhaps one of the film’s effects could be that it gives the viewer pause and makes them experience a different rhythm for a few hours, one that enabled our forebears to survive and still might be the rhythm of our hearts.”
During one of the TIFF Q&As, Reitz quoted famous 1920s Munich cabaret comedian Karl Valentin's adage "As long as I live I have to assume that I'll continue to live." Which nicely relates to the motivations in the film, as you will see.
by Jutta Brendemühl
P.S. Werner Herzog, btw, guest stars as Alexander von Humboldt, asking a farmer (Edgar Reitz) for directions to Schabbach. Reitz commented that he did not want to cast an actor in the role as one of Europe's major thinkers, he decided to have the two filmmakers --one who left southern Germany, one who stayed-- create the scene connected through the imaginary film location Schabbach.
