Der Mann mit dem Fagott: Die Familiensaga is a historical and biographical drama in two parts which premiered in 2011.
The topic is the life and career of the famous Austrian-Swiss singer and composer Udo Jürgens, his father, and his grandfather.
This drama covers three generations and spans a period of more than one hundred years: 1891-2010.
Udo appears briefly in the drama where he plays himself as an old man.
Here is some basic information about this drama which premiered in September 2011 when Udo could celebrate his 77th birthday:
** English title: The Man with the Bassoon
** Director: Miguel Alexandre
** Writers: Miguel Alexandre & Harald Göckeritz
** Based on the book Der Mann mit dem Fagott by Udo Jürgens & Michaela Moritz (2004)
** Language: mostly German; occasionally Russian or English
** Subtitles: when the conversation is in Russian or English, there are German subtitles; there are no English subtitles!
** Released on DVD in 2012
** Run time: 100 + 105 minutes = 205 minutes
As stated above, this drama covers three generations.
The first generation is Udo’s grandfather Heinrich Bockelmann (1870-1945).
In 1891 he moved from Germany to Russia where he became a rich banker.
He was married to Anne.
The second generation is Udo’s father Rudolf “Rudi” Bockelmann (1904-1984).
He was a politician; he was a mayor in Kärnten, Austria, 1938-1945 and again 1954-1958.
He was married to Käthe.
The third generation is Udo himself. He was born as Udo Jürgen Bockelmann in 1934.
As an artist, he used the name Udo Jürgens. He passed away in 2014, three years after this fascinating drama about the history of his family was released.
The story is set in six countries: Germany, Austria, Finland, Sweden, the United States and Russia.
The story does not follow a chronological line from 1891 to 2010. I guess the director decided that this approach would be too boring and too traditional.
This is probably why he chose another approach: the story flips back and forth between different places and different times.
But each time the setting changes, an on-screen message tells us the location and the year, so the viewer always knows where we are.
What about the title: what does it mean? The man with the bassoon pops up from time to time throughout the drama.
Sometimes as a man who plays the Russian folk song Kalinka on his bassoon; sometimes as a small bronze statue of a man who plays the bassoon.
It is a symbol of the family which connects the three generations: from Heinrich Bockelmann in Bremen in 1891 to Udo Jürgens in Moscow in 2010.
When you watch this drama, you will understand the importance of this symbol. You will understand why it is used as the title of the book and the drama.
The cast includes the following:
** Udo Jürgens as himself (as an old man) (age 76 in 2010)
** David Rott as Udo (as a young man)
** Alexander Kalodikis as Udo (as a child) (age 9-12)
** Christian Berkel as Heinrich Bockelmann (1870-1945) – Udo’s grandfather – the banker
** Ulrich Noethen as Rudolf “Rudi” Bockelmann (1904-1984) – Udo’s father – the politician
** Herbert Knaup as Erwin Bockelmann (1903-1971) – Udo’s uncle – a businessman
** Valerie Niehaus as Gitta – Udo’s girlfriend – an actress
** Otto Tausig as Aljoscha Kasajev (an old Russian man)
** Lenn Kudrjawizki as Sergei Kasajev (Aljoscha’s grandson) & Aljoscha Kasajev (a young Russian man)
** Henning Stoll as the young man with the bassoon
** Dieter Schaad as the old man with the bassoon
What do reviewers say about this drama?
On IMDb it has a rating of 67 per cent.
On Amazon Germany there are at the moment more than 77 ratings of this product, 15 with reviews.
The average rating is 4.7 stars which corresponds to a rating of 94 percent.
If you ask me, the rating on IMDb is too low, while the rating on Amazon is too high.
Why do I say this?
The script is well-written and the actors play their roles well. The story is captivating, dramatic, and often highly emotional. In addition, it is based on a true story.
This drama is good, but not great. It has a significant flaw: the language that is spoken.
Most conversations are in German. This is fine when we are in Germany and Austria and when Germans are talking to each other.
But several scenes are set in Russia shortly before and during World War One. Several characters are Russian, but they all speak German, which is is not realistic!
The movie-makers used time and money to make this drama seem realistic, but it seems they forgot to think about the language that is spoken.
This aspect is important and should be realistic as well. When Russian officials speak perfect German, there is something wrong. It is a violation of historical truth!
Occasionally, the movie-makers did, in fact, think about this problem. When we see some Russian characters during World War Two, they speak Russian.
And when Udo visits the United States in the 1960s, the people around him speak English. This is as OK.
But I have to ask: why did the movie-makers ignore this simple rule when they made the scenes set in Russia in the beginning of the 20th century?
Why did they not let the Russian characters speak Russian all the time? This would have made the drama more realistic, more credible.
I like this drama and I want to give it a good rating, but as you can see, there is a flaw which cannot be ignored.
I have to remove one star because of this flaw. This product deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent).
PS. Miguel Alexandre is the director of several historical movies, including Die Frau vom Checkpoint Charlie which premiered in 2007. German actress Veronica Ferres plays the leading role as Sara Bender.
*****
Der Mann mit dem Fagott
A historical and biographical novel
By Udo Jürgens and Michaela Moritz
(2004)
*****
The famous Austrian-Swiss
singer and composer
Udo Jürgens
(1934-2014)
*****
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