Berlinale-Gewinner “Alcarràs”

The film takes you to a Spanish peach plantation. “Alcarràs – The Last Harvest” tells the story of a family that used to earn their living from farming. When a solar system is to be built on the site, the family faces an uncertain future. Director Carla Simón tells of everyday family life and entangled family relationships, of technical changes and the question of what kind of agriculture our society wants. The drama, which won Best Film at the Berlinale in February, is now coming to cinemas.

Alcarràs, Spanien/Italien 2022, 120 Min., FSK ab 6 Jahren, von Carla Simón

“The Young Chief Winnetou”

It’s been sixty years since Pierre Brice slipped into the role of the Apache Winnetou for the first time (“Der Schatz im Silbersee”, 1962, directed by Harald Reinl). What followed has long been considered (pop) culture: ten more Winnetou strips with Brice and other actors such as Götz George, Karin Dor, Ralf Wolter and Lex Barker as Old Shatterhand. Now Winnetou is riding again – even if he is not sitting too firmly in the saddle. Based on Karl May and a screenplay written by Gesa Scheibner and himself, director Mike Marzuk tells the story of the still young Winnetou, who has to learn important lessons before he can become a chief.

The young chief Winnetou, D 2022, 103 min., FSK from 0, by Mike Marzuk, with Mika Ullritz, Milo Haaf, Lola Linnéa Padotzke

“The Englishman who got on the bus and drove to the end of the world”

Berlin (dpa) – 27 years is a film with the long and beautiful title “The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain”. The now launched “The Englishman, who got on the bus and drove to the end of the world” seems to want to refer to the 1990 work with Hugh Grant, at least by means of its German rental title. In the English original, however, it bears the simple, if hardly less concise, title “The Last Bus”.

An old, frail man gets on a bus here, perhaps for the last time. With a noble intention, which the bus driver only answered with an astonished “That’s 1300 kilometers!” answers. And the old man in turn with a stubborn: “Get going!”. The journey should go from the northernmost point of Scotland down to the south of England.

The elderly man is Tom (played by Timothy Spall), a pensioner who wants to go to Land’s End in southern England, where he met his recently deceased wife Mary. Tom wants to scatter Mary’s ashes there, which he has with him in a suitcase. The 90-year-old plans to cover his long journey exclusively with local buses, since he can use them free of charge as a pensioner.

During this road trip he meets very different people who share in his moving life story. British director and screenwriter Gillies MacKinnon, known for films such as “Marrakech” and “A House in Ireland”, took the director’s chair for “The Englishman who got on the bus and drove to the end of the world”. The British leading actor Timothy Spall (“Spencer”) is only 65 and not already the 90 years ascribed to his character in this film.

The Englishman Who Hopped On The Bus And Went To The End Of The World, UK/UAE 2021, 86 min, FSK 12+, by Gillies MacKinnon, starring Timothy Spall, Phyllis Logan, Saskia Ashdown