Brilliant two-part movie about the lives of several generations and families, some living on a farm, some living in the city, and some stuck in between. The main character played by Iris Berben is one of the most unique characters I've seen in a movie recently. The story starts in the past, with the character's dramatic immigration to a farm in Germany as a child with her mother, and branches out through war times into the future, to include the character's estranged sister living in the city, her sister's 20-something daughter who's going through a life crisis, and to her neighbours around the farm she keeps living on, including the ones who ran away from the city for a more natural life and now questioning their decision in despair. It has history, drama, tragedy, some comedic moments, and a finely dosed bitter-sweet romance story, heavy on the bitter side, that makes you think. Both parts were interesting and satisfactory to watch. Recommended.
2 Reviews
Gets better, but never reaches a satisfying level
Horst_In_Translation16 November 2020
Warning: Spoilers
"Altes Land" is a German television two-part movie, so this one runs for pretty much exactly three hours and it is a totally new release because this premiered here in my country on the small screen last night and this night. The writer and director is Sherry Hormann and I always have to check it that is a female or male name, but it is female. Maybe I can remember this time. She had her 60th birthday this year and her gender is actually no surprise because it seems her most known career efforts are cenetered around female characters. Oh well, I know this actually means nothing, but still. It is also the case for this project we have here, even if male characters are obviously not absent. Not even close to. Hormann started making movies in the early 1980s already, so at the age of 20 basically, which makes it obvious that this would always be her career path. And she was born in New York (kinda explains the name), but has basically always worked on German and German-language projects. This one here includes the name of a region in Germany, somewhere near Hamburg and Lower Saxony, so definitely in the north of the country.
This specific name makes it also pretty difficult to translate the title, so I'll just leave it at that, although I would not be surprised if this two-part movie will also be shown outside Germany at some point, not really because it is this good or anything, but because it was not exactly a cheap production and sometimes it shows. So by these words, you can still see that the plot and action could not win me over this time. I will get a bit into detail about that later on. But yes, it was certainly a bit on the disappointing side because Hormann's previous movie "Nur eine Frau" (a theatrical release) I really, really liked. Then again, she has several films in her body of work (probably the majority) that did not leave an impact on me from what I remember. But enough about her now. Let's take a look at the cast. the inclusion of Berben, Peschel, Ehrich, Matschenz, Kunzendorf, Kurth and maybe two or three others shows you that this is a bit of prestigious project because most of these actors you can also see frequently on the big screen. And the good news is that nobody of those was really wasted in term of screen time. They all had a great deal. Sadly, they only had the quantity, not the quality as the story and plot never really impressed me.
I don't know if it is a valid criticism to say that nothing interesting really happened or nothing really happened, but this is the case here. I would be fine with that if the film had been a decent character study otherwise, but it is no such thing. It never really feels below the surface. The somewhat good news is that it does get better the longer it runs. The first 1.5 hours were really terrible and uninspired at times especially the editing here and there, but also how it felt so random and amateurish how the film jumped from one scene to the next, from one location to another. The second half is not a revelation either, but at least a step up in quality. I will mention some scenes and moments that bothered me the most from the first half. It already starts pretty weak with the scene in the car where a young mother makes a connection between rabbits, her son and carrots. I know this was meant in an emotional way, but it felt toally cringeworthy to me honestly. Still kinda fitting in the sense of a framework that one of the final scenes also takes place in the car, only that Berben's character is present now too.
She is the next problem. I honestly think that, while there is no disagreeing with that she always looks at least five years younger, she is not a good actress from any perspective, one of the most overrated performers Germany has. For decades in fact. She has no range, no versatility the way I see it. There was one example from the first half, namely when her character is on the floor doing basically nothing except lying there, and this was somewhat supposed to be meaningful? I disagree. It was only included because it was Berben. With (almost) any other actress, it would have been left out. It felt also cringeworthy how in the first half they kinda made her look old and fragile for the sake of transformation and in the second half, she looked much better, much more healthy and this made no sense. It was just too much of a change. That is how I see it at least. The cliffhanger scene with the gunshot at the end of the first half also felt very fake and for the sake of it to get people curious about the second half.
This second half is where Peschel got featured more frequently and the visual side in terms of aging makeup was not bad I will admit. I also felt that somehow the characters' looks worked fine overall. Peschel and Ehrich really did look related in here. No denying. Which is a bit surprising because I think Ehrich is a stunner and Peschel not so much. I'd probably like him more if he wasn't in all these Schweig(höf)er movies. But let's not get too far away from this film here. I did say early on that nobody really got wasted, which is maybe not entirely true because I think they could have done a lot more with Matschenz' character. He is featured a lot in the first 90 minutes, but not anymore in the second 90 minutes. This is where Peschel takes over. Besides Kurth. He is in both halves, not with the greatest material, but he is good enough of an actor to elevate the (at best) mediocre material from time to time.
So overall, this was supposed to be a bit of a family epic story, also with how it spans over several decades, but the outcome fell very flat quality-wise. The conflicts never really draw you in in a sense where you wonder what is going to happen next. My suggestion is you skip the watch here instead of checking out this highly forgettable three-hour Berben showcase. She is not good and never will be. By the way, this is based on a book by Dörte Hansen, apparently her first literary work that got turned into a movie so far. I have not read this book, but I have a feeling it could be better than this movie overall. The very last scene with Kurth's character dancing felt like a prime example of that. I somehow feel it would have been much more touching and memorable when reading these lines than it got depicted here where it felt as shallow as everything else. Pity. I wonder what Hansen thinks about the outcome and if she likes it. I know I didn't. So it's a thumbs-down from me. Not recommended. The first half even highly not recommended.
This specific name makes it also pretty difficult to translate the title, so I'll just leave it at that, although I would not be surprised if this two-part movie will also be shown outside Germany at some point, not really because it is this good or anything, but because it was not exactly a cheap production and sometimes it shows. So by these words, you can still see that the plot and action could not win me over this time. I will get a bit into detail about that later on. But yes, it was certainly a bit on the disappointing side because Hormann's previous movie "Nur eine Frau" (a theatrical release) I really, really liked. Then again, she has several films in her body of work (probably the majority) that did not leave an impact on me from what I remember. But enough about her now. Let's take a look at the cast. the inclusion of Berben, Peschel, Ehrich, Matschenz, Kunzendorf, Kurth and maybe two or three others shows you that this is a bit of prestigious project because most of these actors you can also see frequently on the big screen. And the good news is that nobody of those was really wasted in term of screen time. They all had a great deal. Sadly, they only had the quantity, not the quality as the story and plot never really impressed me.
I don't know if it is a valid criticism to say that nothing interesting really happened or nothing really happened, but this is the case here. I would be fine with that if the film had been a decent character study otherwise, but it is no such thing. It never really feels below the surface. The somewhat good news is that it does get better the longer it runs. The first 1.5 hours were really terrible and uninspired at times especially the editing here and there, but also how it felt so random and amateurish how the film jumped from one scene to the next, from one location to another. The second half is not a revelation either, but at least a step up in quality. I will mention some scenes and moments that bothered me the most from the first half. It already starts pretty weak with the scene in the car where a young mother makes a connection between rabbits, her son and carrots. I know this was meant in an emotional way, but it felt toally cringeworthy to me honestly. Still kinda fitting in the sense of a framework that one of the final scenes also takes place in the car, only that Berben's character is present now too.
She is the next problem. I honestly think that, while there is no disagreeing with that she always looks at least five years younger, she is not a good actress from any perspective, one of the most overrated performers Germany has. For decades in fact. She has no range, no versatility the way I see it. There was one example from the first half, namely when her character is on the floor doing basically nothing except lying there, and this was somewhat supposed to be meaningful? I disagree. It was only included because it was Berben. With (almost) any other actress, it would have been left out. It felt also cringeworthy how in the first half they kinda made her look old and fragile for the sake of transformation and in the second half, she looked much better, much more healthy and this made no sense. It was just too much of a change. That is how I see it at least. The cliffhanger scene with the gunshot at the end of the first half also felt very fake and for the sake of it to get people curious about the second half.
This second half is where Peschel got featured more frequently and the visual side in terms of aging makeup was not bad I will admit. I also felt that somehow the characters' looks worked fine overall. Peschel and Ehrich really did look related in here. No denying. Which is a bit surprising because I think Ehrich is a stunner and Peschel not so much. I'd probably like him more if he wasn't in all these Schweig(höf)er movies. But let's not get too far away from this film here. I did say early on that nobody really got wasted, which is maybe not entirely true because I think they could have done a lot more with Matschenz' character. He is featured a lot in the first 90 minutes, but not anymore in the second 90 minutes. This is where Peschel takes over. Besides Kurth. He is in both halves, not with the greatest material, but he is good enough of an actor to elevate the (at best) mediocre material from time to time.
So overall, this was supposed to be a bit of a family epic story, also with how it spans over several decades, but the outcome fell very flat quality-wise. The conflicts never really draw you in in a sense where you wonder what is going to happen next. My suggestion is you skip the watch here instead of checking out this highly forgettable three-hour Berben showcase. She is not good and never will be. By the way, this is based on a book by Dörte Hansen, apparently her first literary work that got turned into a movie so far. I have not read this book, but I have a feeling it could be better than this movie overall. The very last scene with Kurth's character dancing felt like a prime example of that. I somehow feel it would have been much more touching and memorable when reading these lines than it got depicted here where it felt as shallow as everything else. Pity. I wonder what Hansen thinks about the outcome and if she likes it. I know I didn't. So it's a thumbs-down from me. Not recommended. The first half even highly not recommended.
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