Here's something about people. About common folks living their daily lives in the tight-knit community of a small village - farmers, blacksmiths, shop keepers, politicians, their wives and children. The place is Germany, more precisely the Hunsrück region near the French border, where nothing particularly world changing happens, yet it's the center of the world for the few who are born, grow up and die there. The time we get to meet these people for the first time is the early 20th century. Starting in 1919, right after the end of World War I, we see defining moments of family life for several decades in Edgar Reitz' 15 hour long epic mini-series "Heimat", right until 1982 when a generation comes to its inevitable end. It's a journey a director has rarely attempted before in terms of scope, done with dedication, intensity and fervor dealing with all those things usually left out in dramatizations of an epoch, where the focus lies solely on the big, flashy events, but the trivial is neglected. Contrary to that "Heimat" follows a host of minor characters step by step, with a regular mother substituting for a "heroine". Main subjects of the series are the family ties and estrangements throughout the years passing by while the world around changes and the Hunsrück people with it, for good or for worse. Alternating rhythmically between black and white and color photography and a subtle, but haunting score by Nikos Mamangakis, Reitz manages to remind us at the same time how far away and yet how close a past reality is - the memories accompany us, the memories remain, the memories are what we build upon.
The "Heimat" series is as much an art project as it is high profile television entertainment and an indispensable historical document. As despite the fact that the material is fictitious it is based on meticulous research, feels earthy, direct, involving and relevant, and is presented with style. In Edgar Reitz' career it was only the first major work before continuing on with the "Heimat II" and "Heimat III" series and finally the film "Die andere Heimat". In all these additional projects he explores Hunsrück lives even further as they traverse into the 21st century, building on characters introduced in the very first series. By doing so Reitz still comments on this work of reference, adding even more and more intricacy and depth to it. A life's work not to be missed.
The "Heimat" series is as much an art project as it is high profile television entertainment and an indispensable historical document. As despite the fact that the material is fictitious it is based on meticulous research, feels earthy, direct, involving and relevant, and is presented with style. In Edgar Reitz' career it was only the first major work before continuing on with the "Heimat II" and "Heimat III" series and finally the film "Die andere Heimat". In all these additional projects he explores Hunsrück lives even further as they traverse into the 21st century, building on characters introduced in the very first series. By doing so Reitz still comments on this work of reference, adding even more and more intricacy and depth to it. A life's work not to be missed.