April 2003 - Nr. 4
Films for kids and families
The annual film fest for kids is just about upon us and this year there is another fine entry from Germany. Planned and executed by the same folks who bring us the Toronto Film Festival SPROCKETS takes place from April 25th-May 4th. All the information is available on the website www.bell.ca/sprockets .
Perhaps German readers remember last year’s response to first and second the vastly successful Harry Potter movies. It was in Germany that a big outcry occurred against the commercial aspects of this popular project. The first movie was maligned with hateful propaganda. One had to wonder why? Why was there such a put down on something so wonderfully executed?
Well, Germany has an answer all its own to the Harry Potter syndrome. Witches and such have long been part of German folklore. The mountains of the Harz abound with stories of witches’ dances and the Brocken as the mountain of their choice for meetings.
In the German movie Bibi Blocksberg we meet with a young witch and her equally "witchy" mother, who, just like in the old TV series Bewitched, live among mortals and Dad is not crazy about the fact that the female members of his household partake in broom flying and witchcraft of any sort. Until, well, until of course he needs it, but by then the plot is over and he never even knows that he had help.
Germany’s answer to Harry Potter is entertaining, but do not expect any fancy special effects other than broom flying. Wholesome, like some other fairy tales, the story winds itself through the counterplot of one bad witch, who loves red shoes, until she ends up, like the bad wolf, in a water well, where she can be contained and subdued.
We watched this film together with the Forget-me-nots, and Rachel Seilern, like myself, liked the wicked witch and her red shoes a lot!
Sybille Forster-Rentmeister
