Hansel and Gretel

Television film

Production
Askania Media GmbH für RBB
2012

Directed by
Uwe Janson

Format
HD 1080/25P 16:9

Length
60 min.

Tech specs
Red One / MX Sensor
Arri/Fujinon Alura 18-80mm/2.6
Arri/Fujinon Alura 45-250mm/2.6
Zeiss Ultraprimes

Exciting, wonderfully dense, enchantingly acted, magical, seductive, touching…

is Volker Tittelbach’s conclusion regarding this film from the ARD fairy-tale series “Six in One Blow,” which is a staple of the ARD program at Christmas.

Uwe Janson’s fairy tale adaptation is one of the highlights of the ARD series ‘Six in One Blow.’ It’s sombre look briefly moves into a seeming paradise, then terror prevails before a truly magical, enchanting feel-good ending leaves both large and small viewers equally happy. The ‘Hansel and Gretel’ myth provides the material for a perfectly universal story. What this version adds to the classic is a seductive, visually powerful aesthetic. With beguiling special effects, a table that sets itself or the father’s change of face colour. The colour palette (almost black and white to multicolored) is clearly inspired by ‘The Wizard of Oz’, and the witch’s magical realm occasionally resembles ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.’ This ‘Hansel and Gretel’ adaptation is contemporary without imitating Hollywood.

“We must get rid of the children,” says the stepmother. The father agrees, albeit with a heavy heart, and so one day, they leave Hansel and Gretel alone in the forest. The boy had overheard the parents, but like humans, the ravens are also hungry, and they eat the breadcrumbs Hansel had laid as a trail. He and his sister get lost in the forest, devoid of hope, when suddenly their eyes widen and their stomachs are overjoyed. A house made of gingerbread, chocolate, and marzipan stands before them. ‘Knock, knock, little house, who’s nibbling at my little house?’ A strange woman invites the children into her realm and conjures a table full of treats. Next morning the wind has changed. The land of plenty turns out to be the house of a cruel witch who locks Hansel in a dungeon, fattens him up to eat him soon, and casts a spell on Gretel. Luckily, the father has a change of heart and sets out to find the children. Along the way, he meets the beautiful forest fairy Marie, who knows the witch from a past life.

‘Hansel and Gretel’ is one of the most frequently filmed of Grimm’s fairy tales. There are good reasons for this: while children can almost take Hansel and Gretel at face value, seduction, temptation, and deception make this horror tale interesting for adults as well. The story offers a wide range of emotions with a high potential for empathy. Anja Kling is bizarre and evil as the witch and beautiful as the forest fairy. Opposing the evil witch with a lovable one is just as clever an idea as making the witch a once wounded child’s soul. The two child actors, Friedrich Heine and Mila Böhning, are very convincing, possessing great clarity in their facial expressions to match the film’s visual concept.

In conclusion: exciting, wonderfully dense, enchantingly acted, magical, seductive, touching.

Rainer Tittelbach, with kind permission
www.tittelbach.tv