Die Andere Heimat

Featured image for “Die Andere Heimat”
Shown: January 17, 2015 at 6pm

Director : Edgar Reitz

Country : Germany

Release Date : 2013

Duration : 229 mins

Language : German

Subtitles : Yes

A heart-wrenching drama and love story set in 1840s Germany, it portrays the fictional village of Schabbach suffering from food shortages, battered by a series of freezing winters and under the yoke of autocratic Prussian rule.  The Portuguese emperor is recruiting young Germans to colonise Brazil and the film captures the plight of hundreds of thousands of these Europeans (whose motto was: “Any fate is better than death”) who emigrated to faraway South America to escape the famine, poverty and despotism that ruled at home.

At 53 hours and 25 minutes, Edgar Reitz’s Heimat was already the longest series of feature-length films in cinema history. This is its four-hour prequel with spectacular landscapes and an ultra-high definition shooting format.

A magnificent, career-capping achievement from one of the great storytellers of our era.” (Trevor Johnstone – Time Out)


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