Some trivia: with "Heimat", probably the most ambitious project in post-war German film history, Edgar Reitz became one of Stanley Kubrick's favourite film directors. As Kubrick was fond of both scope and minutiae, it comes as no surprise that the attention to detail and the amazing narrative breadth of Reitz's almost 1000 minute long film roused Kubrick's admiration. He saw all of it in his private movie theatre and hung his favourite film still from the film (of Maria's coffin on the rainy street in Schabbach) over his office desk. Kubrick even contacted Reitz in the 80s to ask him about his set designer Franz Bauer, whom he considered for "Aryan Papers" (Kubrick's unmade Holocaust project).
When, years later, Kubrick had finished the filming of "Eyes Wide Shut", he expressed the wish that all dubbed versions of his film in the most important European countries be supervised by his favourite film directors: in France by Patrice Chareau, in Spain by Carlos Saura, in Italy by Bernardo Bertolucci, and in Germany by Edgar Reitz. At that time Reitz was busy preparing "Heimat 3", yet after Kubrick's untimely death he bent to Kubrick's wishes.
The final "Heimat" film was released several years after Kubrick's death. With its release, and a now combined length of 53 hours and 25 minutes, the trilogy became one of the longest series of feature length films in the history of cinema.
The first "Heimat" film, subtitled "A Chronicle of Germany", takes the form of a family saga set in the fictional South Western village of Schabbach in the years prior to World War 2. The film traces the lives of families, farmers, mayors, tradesmen, shop owners, politicians and soldiers, but primarily focuses on the fortunes of the Simon clan, who pull themselves out of the humiliating defeat of World War 1 and witness the rise of Hitler and the entry of their country, not only into the Second World War, but Germany's post-war economic boom.
Being a backwater town, Germany's conflicts and larger historical events are only glimpsed in fragments by the villagers. The gossip of neighbours, messages on radios, the appearance of Nazi armbands, allusions to the Final Solution and a subtle scene in which a boy on a bicycle observes a concentration camp being constructed, all hint at unseen horrors.
The film is largely shot in black and white, though colour sequences do increasingly pop up, most notably during Germany's first colour television broadcast, which our humble villagers witness with great fascination. Spielberg would borrow similar techniques in "Schindler's List".
"Heimat 2" and "Heimat 3" are equally epic. While "Heimat 1" moves from the small town life of 1919 to the social unrest of the 60s and 70s and finally to the relative stability of the 1980s, "Heimat 2" largely takes place in the late 60s and 70s, whilst "Heimat 3" centres on the late 80s and 90s and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Unsurprisingly, "Heimat 3" focuses on a composer-conductor rebuilding a dream house whilst the Berlin Wall comes crumbling down, a gesture which epitomises the overriding theme of the entire trilogy. With the word "Heimat" meaning "homeland", and with the trilogy packed with shots of abandoned factories, discarded US bases, apartments and crumbling walls, the chapters, and the final episodes in particular, are all about collapse, abandonment and rebuilding, Reitz primarily concerned with the idea of rebuilding homes and reclaiming Germany (and the German identity) from nationalistic ideology (and later the threats of Globalization).
What's most interesting about the trilogy, though, is watching how the Simon clan changes over the decades, humble villagers becoming industrialists, aviators, arrogant playboys etc. Unsurprisingly, these characters are also used as entry points into other topics, like one character's narrative symbolising an influx of Russian immigrants, another the effects on reunification on East Germany and others the effects of Western capitalism on German heritage.
Like "The Wire", the "Heimat" trilogy is ultimately one of those rare projects which captures the scope of Balzac and Dickens. It serves up the vast universes expected of great 19th century novels, with its Balzac-like focuses on inheritance, complex character juggling, money flow, boardroom dealings and the way the world changes (and stays the same) with time. Where the "Heimat" trilogy differs from such fare, though, is in its mythical scope, Reitz paying attention not only to his characters, but the very heartbeat of the earth. For all the drama on display, he is always inserting moments where natural phenomena (earthquares, storms, eclipses) utterly dwarf his cast, lending the series a unique tone, a strange blend of realism, documentary, social comedy, melodrama, mysticism, and German Romanticism.
9.5/10 - "Heimat 1"
8.9/10 - "Heimat 2", "Heimat 3"
A work of extraordinary ambition. "Heimat 1" and "Heimat 2" are the best of the trilogy, though the scope of "2" necessitates that its themes be handled in a somewhat superficial manner (notice the lack of minorities etc). "Heimat 3" ends strongly, but is hampered by its short length.
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