Der ganz grosse Traum (2011)

Lessons of a Dream is the English title of a historical and biographical movie (loosely based on a true story) about the German high school teacher Konrad Koch (1846-1911) who introduced football in Germany in the second half of the 19th century. It was shown in theatres and released on DVD in 2011. Here is some basic information about it:

** Original German title: Der ganz grosse Traum

** Director: Sebastian Grobler

** Writers: Sebastian Grobler, Raoul B. Reinert, Philipp Roth & Johanna Stuttmann

** Language: German

** Subtitles: German - no English subtitles!

** Run time: 108 minutes

The cast includes the following:

** Daniel Brühl as Konrad Koch – teacher

** Kathrin von Steinburg as Klara Bornstedt – mother

** Adrian Moore as Joost Bornstedt – student

** Justus von Dohnanyi as Richard Hartung – father

** Theo Trebs as Felix Hartung – student

** Henriette Confurius as Rosalie – maid at the Hartung residence

** Burghart Klaussner as Gustav Herfeld – headmaster

** Axel Prahl as Schicker senior – father

** Till Valentin Winter as Otto Schicker – student

I do not wish to spoil the viewing for anyone. Therefore I will not reveal too much about what happens in this movie. Basically, I will only tell you how the story begins. But I have to mention a few facts in order to explain my rating.

The story is set in 1874 in the German town of Braunschweig. Konrad Koch returns from England where he has studied at a university for several years. He has been hired as an English teacher at the local high school, Martino-Katharineum. However, his students are not interested in learning English. In the German empire, which was founded in 1871, only three years before, there is only contempt for England and the English language.

In order to make the English classes more interesting, Konrad decides to teach his students a new game, football, which he had learned to like while he was a student in England. The technical terms of football are used to make the English classes more interesting.

At first, his students do not care much for the game, but after a while they start to like it. By then, however, the parents have realised what is going on and they do not like it at all. They insist that the game be banned.

This is how the story begins and this is where my presentation ends. If you want to know what happens to Konrad Koch and the people around him as well as the game of football, you will have to watch the drama all the way to the end,

What do reviewers say about this drama? On IMDb it has a rating of 68 per cent, which corresponds to 3.4 stars on Amazon. On the German version of Amazon there are more than 120 reviews of this product. The average rating is 4.5 stars. If you ask me, the former rating is too low, while the latter rating is too high. Why?

As stated above, the story is loosely based on a true story. There was indeed a German teacher whose name is Konrad Koch. He was a teacher in Braunschweig in 1874. And he did introduce football in Germany. But the story that we see in the movie is far removed from the historical facts. Let me explain:

(1) Konrad Koch never studied at a university in England.

(2) He was not an English teacher. He was a teacher of ancient languages: Greek and Latin.

(3) As a teacher, he did not use modern or progressive methods, he was very traditional. He did not challenge the establishment with modern and progressive methods of teaching. He was a traditional teacher.

(4) He did not use the English technical terms of football to teach his students English. On the contrary, he was trying to invent and introduce German words in order to avoid using the English terms of the game.

An on-screen message at the beginning of the movie states:

“Frei nach wahren Begebenheiten”

A loose English translation:

“What we see in this movie is pure invention. But it is based on a true story.”

The movie-makers wanted to create a family-friendly movie which tells us the story about how football was introduced in Germany in the second half of the 19th century. And this aim was accomplished.

The movie includes several modern clichés:

(a) On one side we have the young progressive teacher who is full of new ideas that he has learned in England. On the other side we have the old teachers who have old-fashioned ideas about teaching and the world in general.

(b) On one side we have a rich family (Hartung) who feel contempt for the poor. On the other side we have a poor family (Bornstedt) who face difficult conditions.

(c) There are even two love-stories in the movie. The first concerns the teacher Konrad Koch and Klara Bornstedt, mother of Joost, while the second concerns the student Felix Hartung and Rosalie, the maid. Both stories are told in a very discrete way: almost nothing is shown in the movie, but we can understand that something may happen later on.

As stated above, this is a movie about football. But it is much more than that. It is a movie about sport and the role it can play in a local community. You may enjoy this movie, even if you do not care much for the game. Why? Because it is a movie about people: old and young, rich and poor, men and women. Football is a powerful game. Sometimes it may be able to bridge the gap between generations, between social classes and between men and women.

I like this movie and I want to give it a good rating, but I have to remove one star because of the flaws mentioned above. Therefore I think it deserves a rating of four stars.

PS # 1. The following review is available online: Matthias Heine, “Daniel Brühl bringt den Fussball nach Deutchsland,” Die Welt, 24 February 2011.

PS # 2. For more information, see the following book: Der Fussball-Lehrer: Wie Konrad Koch im Kaiserreich den Ball ins Spiel brachte by Malte Oberschelp (2010).

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Konrad Koch (1846-1911)

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