Der Amphibienmensch

I loved this film for many reasons. Most people who saw it, saw it as children on late night TV, but I didn't get to catch up with it till now. It has a lovely heart to it and although certainly naive and simple for todays standards, it possesses a warmth that is so often missing from other mostly american films of it's Genre and time period.

Certainly there are some strange aspects to it. The setting - which is either Spain or Mexico clashes with the Russian language and the Greek, Spanish and French character names. Perhaps this is done to give a sense of internationalism to the film.

But the thing I loved most about this film is it's social rather than political subtext. While many of this 1960's SCI-FI Genre concentrate on Nuclear accidents, fear of technology etc, Amphibian Man is instead concerned with the world that is created by simple human greed and cruelty. There is no BIG threat here, only trying to exist in a world that is made by men who are greedy and selfish. It is interesting to see that while US cinema was hysterical about the threat of nuclear technology and specifically the threat of Communist Russia, This Russian Film was more concerned with working within the world as it stood and looking at the problems that do exist rather than scaring people with over the top nuclear threats.

The Amphibian Man is not created by accident - but by scientific technology, and the purpose is not as a weapon but as a social advance. Even the "evil" Don Pedro - never thinks of using the "sea Devil" as a weapon but only to collect pearls and increase Pedro's personal fortune.

It is a truly interesting movie, allowing me to see another mind set of that era that is not the American one. And the bittersweet ending is far from unsatisfying.