Gotthard – a mini-series in two parts – is a historical drama about the first railway tunnel under the Gotthard Pass that was constructed towards the end of the 19th century.
It is a co-production of three television networks in three countries:
** ORF - Austria
** ZDF – Germany
** SRF – Switzerland
The mini-series - described by the three networks as “the television event of the year” - was shown on television in all three countries and released on DVD in December 2016.
Here is some basic information about it:
** Directed by Urs Egger
** Written by Stefan Dähnert, Niklaus Hilber and Patrick Tönz
** Musical score composed by Fabian Römer
** Languages: German and Italian
** Subtitles: German (no English subtitles)
** Run time: 2 x 90 minutes = 180 minutes
The cast includes the following:
** Maxim Mehmet as Max – a German engineer
** Pasquale Alearde as Tommaso – an Italian tunnel worker
** Miriam Stein as Anna – a Swiss inn-keeper
** Carlos Leal as Louis Favre (1826-1879) – a Swiss engineer
** Pierre Siegenthaler as Alfred Escher (1819-1882) – a Swiss politician and railway pioneer
As stated above, Gotthard is a historical drama. A fictional story is placed in a historical context.
In this case, the context is Switzerland towards the end of the 19th century.
Construction of the railway tunnel begins in 1872. The north gate is at Göschenen, while the south gate is at Airolo.
The two teams meet each other in 1880. The work is completed during 1881. The official opening takes place in 1882.
The historical drama begins in 1873 when Max and Tommaso arrive at Göschenen (the north gate).
The work on the tunnel has already begun. Max and Tommaso are both looking for work. They need a place to stay. They end up sharing a room at the inn that is run by Anna.
Max, Tommaso, and Anna – the three main characters of the story - are fictional characters, who were invented in order to give us (the audience) a chance to identify with the general historical events.
Louis Favre and Alfred Escher are real historical persons, but they only play a minor role in the historical drama.
As stated above, the drama is divided into two parts. The first part covers events 1873-1875, while the second part covers events 1878-1880.
The tunnel is ca. 15 km long. Digging though the mountain was a huge undertaking.
When the tunnel opened in 1882, it was the longest tunnel in the world. The people behind the historical drama want to tell us the story of this project. To a large degree they succeed in this endeavour.
There are three groups of people in the drama and they come from three different places:
(1) The people who make the decisions, the investors and the politicians, are from Switzerland. Alfred Escher is one of them.
(2) The people who make the calculations, the engineers, are from Germany. Max is one of them.
(3) The people who do the actual work, the tunnel diggers, are from Italy. Tommaso is one of them.
The man in charge of the project is the Swiss engineer Louis Favre, who won the contract, because he offered a timetable that was shorter and a budget that was lower than the closest rival.
Unfortunately, his timetable and his budget are quite unrealistic. This is why the project runs into trouble several times.
The progress is too slow and the money is running out too fast.
Financial problems are not the only difficulty. Another problem is the question of health and safety for the workers inside the tunnel.
On one occasion, water rushes in from above and the ceiling of the tunnel collapses. Some workers are killed, while others are injured.
When the workers are deep inside the mountain, four or five km from the entrance, the quality of the air in the tunnel is not good. They need oxygen.
The health of the workers is seriously undermined when they are infected by hookworms. By 1875, the workers have had enough. They begin a strike, demanding better working conditions in the tunnel.
But management refuses to listen to them. The Swiss army is called in, and the strike is crushed when soldiers attack the strikers, killing four and wounding thirteen.
Favre does not live long enough to see the project completed. He dies in 1879, shortly before the two sides meet each other in 1880. He has a heart attack while visiting the tunnel.
In 1880, when the two sides meet each other, a picture of Favre is passed from team north to team south. In this way, he is the first man to pass through the tunnel.
This is a historical drama. While the general story is true, it is not a documentary film.
It is a dramatized version of events, and the three main characters are fictional characters which were invented to give the story a human dimension.
What do reviewers say about the drama?
On IMDb it has a rating of 64 per cent.
On Amazon Germany there are at the moment 74 ratings of this product, including 20 with reviews.
The average rating is 4.5 stars, which corresponds to a rating of 90 percent.
As you can see, the ratings are quite good.
I understand the positive reviews. This is, in many ways, a good drama. But it is not great. I understand why the ratings do not go all the way to the top.
There is too much focus on the personal relations between the three fictional characters and not enough focus on the work in the tunnel.
The story is colourful and lively - there is even a bar room brawl (like an old western) - and there are some wonderful images of the Swiss mountains, but the priorities of the drama are not quite right.
There is too much personal drama and not enough focus on the problems connected with the tunnel, which is after all the main topic. Without the tunnel there would not be any story at all.
Sometimes, while watching this drama, I have the feeling that the tunnel project is merely an excuse for inventing the love triangle between Max, Tommaso and Anna.
When I look at the pros and the cons, I think this drama deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent).
PS # 1. The bonus material on the DVD includes a feature about the history of the tunnel (50 minutes) and a feature about the making of Gotthard (25 minutes).
PS # 2. The website of the Swiss television network SRF has a special section where you can find additional information about the tunnel.
*****
The Gotthard Tunnel
Workers in Airolo
The south gate
(1880)
*****
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