Heimat (1984)

Average rating

(65%)

Starring:	Marliese Assmann \| Eva Maria Bayerwaltes \| Helga Bender \| Gabriele Blum
Director:	Edgar Reitz
Studio:	METRODOME DISTRIBUTION
Run time:	924 mins
Genres:	Drama \| World Cinema
Languages:	French, Hassianya
Subtitles:	English
Released:	June 21, 2010

A living timeline branching across 64 years of German history commencing with the first world war, this compelling chronicle immerses viewers in the lives and lineage of small-town family the Simons like a steadily unfolding novel. Avoiding the tendency towards a simplified, good vs. evil account of history, Heimat, roughly translated as "homeland," captures the coexistence of ordinary Germans in times of profound atrocities and radical socio-political transformation. The film's confrontational view of Germany's past has prompted introspection from audiences around the world, and the acknowledgement of past crimes against humanity as a shared scar that touches all of human history. Two years in the making, this epic series features 140 speaking roles and 5000 non-professional actors.

Radio Times

It took over five years to shoot the 923 minutes that make up this monumental mosaic of 20th-century German history, and it was worth every second. Set in a village in the Hunsrück uplands, Edgar Reitz's masterpiece chronicles the life of the farming family into which Marita Breuer marries in 1919, paying as much attention to local detail as to the great events that shaped the nation's destiny. Wrongly dismissed in some quarters as high-class soap opera, it not only eschews cheap melodramatics, but also meticulously develops its characters, who are played with uniform excellence by the huge cast. Also shown in 11 parts on TV, this stunningly photographed epic (with monochrome being tantalisingly embossed with patches of colour) was followed by the disappointingly inferior Second Heimat.

Highest rated reviews

19 out of 20 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 4.0 stars
Excellent Epic

Harvey from East Lothian, 16th January, 2005

Heimat was a German TV series directed by Edgar Reitz. It follows the fortunes of Scabbach - a fictional village - and in particular the Simon family during the period 1919 to the early eighties. We follow the family as they grow up, grow apart, find love and reunite after long absences. The story is played out against some important events; the first telephones, private cars, the first highway that bypasses the village, the rise of the Hitler Youth and the world wars. There are many interesting story lines woven through this epic, particularly as various family members set out to make something of themselves in the world. The series is presented on six DVDs each containing one or more episodes. There is a mixture of black-and-white and colour, sometimes within the same scene. The Audio language is German, subtitied in English. There are many moving and poignant scenes, this is well worth the marathon effort to watch.

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8 out of 8 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 5.0 stars
Draws you in

Ryan Crawford from Fife, Scotland, 6th February, 2006

HEIMAT (HOMELAND) Edgar Reitz, Germany, 1984 - 2004 Why would you want to spend hours on end watching episodes of an arthouse soap that chronicles German history - from 1918 onwards - through the eyes of a Rhineland hausfrau and family? Well, as with all good serials, director Edgar Reitz seizes the viewer's attention and always leaves us with questions to which we simply have to know the answers. Moreover, he ensures that the events and emotions that his characters experience are familiar to us all, thus persuading us to identify with their passions, ambitions, frustrations, triumphs and regrets. Reitz succeeds in juggling numerous plotlines without resorting to melodrama or caricature. He's also supported by an excellent cast, whose natural performances draw you in to the key social, political and cultural issues that impacted across the entire continent.

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5 out of 7 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 5.0 stars
It is not SUPPOSED to be about Nazis

nina from London, 12th May, 2005

For those who want to watch a film about the rise of the Nazis, don't watch Heimat. It is instead about how actual people lived during that time, before, and several years after. The people of Shabbach and the Simon family are its main focus, and all the mundane, frustrating, amazing and downright bonkers and funny things that happen to them, as happens to any real family. That said it does not ignore the Nazis, but to give you an idea of how it deals with that, it focuses more on how people in the village start sporting 'trendy' moustaches and uniforms because it is the thing to do rather than they are all political animals. In fact they are just normal people and you can understand immediately how things happened they way they did for the Germans during this time. Crucially this also does not paint 'good' characters or 'bad' - they are all flawed, again just like real people. A great series, and totally recommended.

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Most recent reviews

Rated 5.0 stars
Heimat

A Customer from London, 18th November, 2008

The first series of Heimat is, quite simply, a masterpiece. It offers a unique insight into a culture, and a period from 1918 onwards, dealing with the daily lives and inner dreams, conflicts and problems of a community in a small German country town. It's superbly cast and unfolds at a leisurely, almost 'real-time' pace that allows us to be sucked into the fabric of the place and its people, and, as it moves through time, helps us to an understanding of how ordinary people got sucked in to the machinations of the Third Reich. The second series, too, while not as hauntingbecause it is more 'modern', is also a towering achievement.

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