Des Christoffel von Grimmelshausen abenteuerlicher Simplicissimus

Harshness of medevil reality and tragicomic events are masterfully recreated in this historical masterpeace. This movie left a lasting impression on me. The costumes, the buildings and almost every detail has been carefully injected to put life into this period of the "30 year war" (anno 1628-1658). To describe this movie to an american audience, you might call it an "court jester" comedy. But that wouldn't do much justice. The movie covers a lot more complexity, and it's not just a tragic comedy.

'Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus' by Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen is the first ever German novel. Before it was published in about 1668 or -69, Germans had been able to read academic and religious works, poetry, some derivatives of medieval romances and since the beginning of the century a rapidly increasing number of weekly and daily newspapers. What they got only now was a proper novel with characters that develop and change, talk to each other etc. Etc. - things we take for granted when reading fiction. In 1975 director Fritz Umgelter used 'Simplicissimus' as the basis for this four-part miniseries. On the whole my impression is that he has managed to capture the spirit and tone of Grimmelshausen's work, including the bits that from a modern perspective appear pretty vulgar and off-putting. That there is a lot of violence - including murder, torture and rape - goes without saying. After all, the setting is the Thirty-Years War (1618-48) when such things were commonplace. The plot does in general follow the novel; I think the liberties it takes are well-justified, and the fact that it moves relatively slowly is typical of German 1970s TV productions. I liked the sets, though in this respect other films set in this period (for example the 'Wallenstein'-mini series of 1978) were doing better. What spoiled 'Simplicissmus' for me was the abysmal quality of the dialogue: No wit, no sparkle, no originality; instead a lot of stilted talk and affected laughter. In some places this reminded me of second-rate 1970s Italian comedies poorly dubbed by third-rate German actors. That's a pity because in principle Grimmelshausen offers fantastic material of which much more could have been made.