Krupp - Eine deutsche Familie (2009)

Krupp – A German Family (a mini-series in three parts) is the English title of a historical and biographical drama which premiered on German television (ZDF) in 2009. It is based on a true story: the story of the Krupp family and their famous steel company in Essen. Here is some basic information about this drama:

*** Original German title: Krupp – Eine deutsche Familie 
*** Director: Carlo Rola

*** Producer: Oliver Berben

*** Writer: Christian Schnalke

*** Released on DVD in 2009

*** Number of discs: 2

*** Number of episodes: 3

*** Language: German – no English subtitles!

*** Run time: 88 + 88 + 90 minutes = 266 minutes

*** Bonus features: 28 + 29 minutes = 57 minutes

*** Total run time: 323 minutes

This drama covers almost seven decades of German history, from 1901 to 1967. But the story does not follow a straight chronological line from 1901 to 1967. Several scenes are set in 1957, shortly before the death of Bertha Krupp. During her final days, Bertha is thinking about her life in the Krupp family. From this point in time, there are several flashbacks to earlier days. Step by step, the story moves forward, until we reach the starting point (1957). From 1957 the story continues until 1967, the year in which Bertha’s oldest son Alfried dies.

As stated above, there are three parts:

** Part # 1 covers the years 1901-1920
** Part # 2 covers the years 1920-1940

** Part # 3 covers the years 1941-1967

Since there are many characters and since the story covers almost seven decades, I will begin this review by presenting a (partial) family tree:

Friedrich Alfred “Fritz” Krupp (1854-1902) married Margarethe Krupp (1854-1931). They had two daughters:

** Bertha Krupp, the older daughter, born in 1886, who married Gustav Krupp von Bohlen (1870-1950) – Bertha died in 1957

** Barbara Krupp, the younger daughter, born in 1887, who married Tilo von Wilmowsky (1878-1966) – Barbara died in 1972

Bertha and Gustav had eight children. The oldest was Alfried Krupp von Bohlen (1907-1967) who married Anneliese Bahr (1909-1998). Alfried and Anneliese had a son Arnt von Bohlen (1938-1986).

Alfried had seven brothers and sisters. One of them was Harald von Bohlen (1916-1983).

Among the secondary characters I will mention the German Emperor Wilhelm II, who was born in 1859. He was emperor 1888-1918. At the end of World War One, when Germany became a republic, he went into exile. He died in 1941. Another secondary character is Felix von Ende, who was Margarethe’s brother. He was an artist.

Having presented the main characters, I can now introduce the actors. The cast includes the following:

** Fritz Karl as Friedrich Alfred “Fritz” Krupp
** Barbara Auer as Margarethe Krupp

** Valerie Koch as the young Bertha Krupp

** Iris Berben as the old Bertha

** Marie Zielke as the young Barbara Krupp

** Sunnyi Melles as the old Barbara

** Heino Ferch as the young Gustav Krupp von Bohlen

** Thomas Thieme as the old Gustav

** Stephan Luca as the young Tilo von Wilmowsky

** Volkmar Kleinert as the old Tilo

** Theo Trebs as the young Alfried Krupp

** Benjamin Sadler as the old Alfried

** Barbaby Metschurat as Harald von Bohlen

** Mavie Hörbinger as Anneliese Bahr

** Michael Schenk as Emperor Wilhelm II

** Ole Puppe as Felix von Ende

** Nikolai Kinski as Arnt von Bohlen

I do not wish to spoil the viewing for anyone. Therefore I am not going to reveal too much about what happens in this historical drama. Since it is based on a true story, the basic facts about the family and the company are part of the public record. If you want to know more about them, you can simply google their names.

What do reviewers say about this drama? On IMDb it has a rating of 65 per cent, which corresponds to 3.3 stars on Amazon. On the German version of Amazon there are at the moment more than 60 reviews of this product. The average rating is 3.7 stars. If you ask me, these average ratings are too low.

I want to go higher than that. On the other hand, I am not prepared to go all the way to the top with this drama. While it is a grand production – a major event in German television – it has two significant flaws:

# 1. Many scenes are too short. The conversation stops almost before it begins.

# 2. The story flips back and forth in time and from one location to another too frequently. At first it may seem smart, but after a while it becomes annoying.

I would have preferred longer scenes and not so much flipping back and forth in time.

I like this drama and I want to give it a good rating, but as you can see there are some flaws which cannot be ignored. I have to remove one star because of them. Therefore I think this drama deserves a rating of four stars.

PS # 1. Iris Berben and Oliver Berben (mother and son) have worked together with Carlo Rola on several products, including Die Patriarchin, a three-part drama that was shown on German television in 2004 and released on DVD in 2005.

PS # 2. The bonus features on disc 2 include two items: “The Making of” and “Witnesses.” In both items there are interviews with actors and with the people behind the camera.

PS # 3. The following articles are available online:

** Matthias Hannemann, “Die Krupps im ZDF: Marmor, Stahl und Eisen spricht,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 22 March 2009

** Carsten Knop and Werner Sturbeck, “Ein Besuch auf der Villa Hügel: Die fiktiven und die realen Krupps,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 24 March 2009

PS # 4. This historical drama is marked as region 2 (Europe). Both discs run without any problems on my European laptop when I use a program called VLC Media Player.

PS # 5. Krupp: A History of the Legendary German Firm by Harold James was published by Princeton University Press in 2012.

*****

 

 Friedrich Alfred Krupp (1854-1902)

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