I knew another movie, exactly about the legend itself....
And today, while I was searching for the movie I watched last night, I found this:
http://www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek/beitrag/video/381666/Nibelungen-Code%2C-1-Deckname-Siegfried
If you are curious avout the story and know German (after all, this is a German legend!), this is the way to quickly be updated on the story of Siegfried and Kriemhilde....
But the movie that kept me awake last night is actually situated in the present day....in Koln...
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| official walpaper, source google images |
It actually starts with a researcher, Maria...dying in a rock crash. She was actually searching for clues to the Niebelungen Schatz...The Treasure of the Nebelungs, and just before she dies on the Rugen Island, she gives her husband, Eik, who survives the crash, an amulet, which will later turn out to be one of the four clues leading to the treasure. The second clue is a golden hand,
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| google images |
the third is a mitre with a jewel inside, and the fourth is the cap of the bust of Charlemagne (Carolus Magnus- i.e. in Latin).
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| google images |
All these clues bring Eik (the main character), the gorgeus researcher Katharina and the clumsy Justus, all very literate people...professors, after all....on a wild chase for the Hoard...which turnes out to be behind a waterfall near Neuschwanstein Castle
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| google images |
(which I don't have to tell you it does exist, right??).
Of course, like in any modern movie, there must be some bad guys trying their best to steal the treasure, and this time there are two kinds: first there is an old rich man, Herr Brenner, who hopes to gain immortality by drinking the dragon blood from the vile which is believed to be with the treasure, and an old colleague of Eik, Andre, who was first hired by Brenner, but he betrayed the latter and shot him because he wanted the treasure for himself, especially Siegfried's sword (Balmung, if I'm not mistakeing). In trying to get the sword the ice covering part of the treasure brakes and Andre is swept down and crushed.
With both bad guys dead, Eik, Katharina and Justus escape, only the latter managing to take Siegfried's magic invisible-making cape, which doesn't work in the end.....nice, eh?
I forgot to mention, and so did the German producer, or mabe he left it to the watchers of the movie to discover for themselves..., that Eik and late Maria's daughter is called Krimi (coming from Kriemhilde probably...:D), isn't that nice??
And like also even the old Brenner observed, Eik means oak, a tall, old and wise, growing tree, strong and enduring, but in the Norse mythology it was the tree symbol of Thor, the god of thunder (having a hammer as his weapon....eeeh...does it ring a bell?), the protector of mankind, a healer and responsible for fertility (partial source- Wikipedia ; and I say partial because some of that I already knew myself!....:D). Doesn't this small info give more pleasure in watching the movie?
When I was googleing today for the poster of the movie which you can see on the top I found a comment not very to my liking for this movie, since, as I already told you, I enjoyed the movie alot. I wonder what would anyone expect from a relic- hunter movie?? I didn't appreciate their tone when they were talking about German movies in general, as they are like Japanese movies, predictible and made after a pattern. The author of the article probably is not very familiar to American movies, which all have the same boring plot and 'happy end'....should I go further than the last Indiana Jones...or mabe the Librarian II???? (p.s. here: I loved the Librarian I!!!, also, the second was ok, but still cheesy, but I'm a sucker for cheesy relic-hunter movies....)
Anyway, the writer of the article made me laugh from all my heart when she wrote:
" In a way, it’s unfair. Spielberg and Lucas built a lot of their sets from scratch using sweat and plywood, but TCC just needed the right permits from the German Tourist or Antiquities Board to go hopping from one ancient pile of stonework to another with nary a care in the world.
You just don’t feel that a justified sense of industry has gone into the filming of Cologne Cathedral because, hey, it’s already centuries old and was just hanging around, waiting for a film crew to exploit it. Because of this, TCC (particularly in its second half) resembles more kids playing around Famous Tourist Sites of Germany than a serious mystery. ”
(source: http://blog.ksaugustin.com/2011/01/10/review-the-charlemagne-code/)
Now, why is a plywood set better than the real places?? Doesn't this give more value to the movie. I thaught that this would bring more weight to the movie, isn't it? And why should the German producer not use the real places?? like the old cathedral, or museum?? Why not use them if we have them????? This is really absurd in my opinion!!!!
And excuse me, but if someone does not know these particular " Famous Tourist Sites of Germany", which so happens to be, were already there in the time of Charlemagne (once again more weight and precious images! and well done to the producer!) and are unknown to the watcher of the movie, than I suggest someone should read more legends! And I can't say I feel sorry for saying this, but I believe the story of the Ring of the Niebelungs to be one of essential meaning for general culture and background knowledge!
With that being said I hope I convinced you all to watch this movie, and I tell you I feel like once again the German producers have convinced me about their potential for making good movies! In this respect you can also read my article:
http://anasblogana.blogspot.com/2011/05/lately.html
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