I decided to watch "Das letzte Kapitel" (Chapter the Last) mostly because I knew that it was an adaptation of the famous novel with the same name by Nobel Prize Winner Knut Hamsun from 1923. I am not an expert on Scandinavian literature, but I have heard of this writer, also in the context of his admiration for Hitler and Nazism. On the other hand, Isaac Bashevis Singer also translated Hamsun's works into Yiddish, so why not watch the movie and see what the novel is about? The plot takes place in a Norwegian sanatorium called Torahus, located in a picturesque landscape. People who suffer from a wide variety of illnesses and have very different life backgrounds have gathered here. Many of them are very close to death in one way or another, are old and frail or seriously ill, or are just imagining both. Death is omnipresent in their thoughts, the looming end of life "the last chapter". In the collection of desperate and failed characters, only one figure stands out: the farmer Daniel Utby (Hansjorg Felmy). He lives on his farm with a maid near the sanatorium. He is young and healthy, frugal, and, in the face of the failed sanatorium existence, refreshingly normal. He is absorbed in his work, does not allow himself any quirks or special treatment, loves life and not death. I liked "Chapter the Last", its dark atmosphere, and the pictures of rugged mountain landscapes. An additional asset of the film for me was the acting of Hansjorg Felmy.
