Julius Schmitke is a fifty-seven-year-old German wind turbine engineer. He feels ill and his body creaks, crunches and groans with age. One day, he is sent somewhere to the Czech side of the Ore Mountains to fix one of his old models, a C 174 turbine that, mysteriously, will not stop creaking and squeaking, just like his own body does. But this is not the only mystery that awaits him. His colleague disappears, strange things happen, and Schmitke starts to “feel” the spirit of the forest around him. The more Julius wanders around the harsh and misty mountains, the more it surprises him that this entire expedition into the ominous and unknown jungle seems to be a return to old, familiar places within himself.
The director of the movie, Štěpán Altrichter said: “The film is based on a short story by the writer and screenwriter Tomáš Končinský entitled “Julius Schmitke slipped through death’s fingers like an awkward seal”, which immediately captured my interest. It is a story set somewhere between comedy and mystery, somewhere in the fog of the Ore Mountains, full of the atmosphere of this mysterious stretch of land, its history and its people. But first of all it’s the story of the inner world of an aging, clumsy man who is unable to participate in the world arround him. He shows us a feeling that we all know in today’s ultra-fast virtual world. It’s a journey into the mind of an unfortunate man, which makes us feel what we don’t allow ourselves to feel that much anymore.”
“Schmitke” – in cinemas in Germany from 5th November 2015.
