About a year ago I witnessed the shooting of a movie, my son had a job as Junior Runner on site, and I was partly involved in some changes in the script.
The movie tells the story of a young team of rowers and their coach who came from the middle of nowhere and went on to win the Olympic gold medal in the Eight in Rome, 1960. My father was part of that team and I grew up with that story.
A magical part of it was that the coach, Karl Adam (1912-1976) used to be the high-school teacher of several of the team members, and in a way he became their surrogate father. He gave them something to strive for, and he was a male role model most of them didn't have.
Certainly for my father he was extremely important and although It would never have called him 'grandpa' I realized the significance of their relationship for my father early on.
I was only 11 years old when 'Kalli', as we talked about him, passed away completely unexpectedly, we were on a trip through the American National Parks of the Northwest and I remember sitting next to my father during an entire evening on the typical combined campground bench and table after we had heard the sad news.
That team and their victory was almost as important for Germany's feeling of rising from the ashes after the defeat in WW II as had been the soccer team a few years earlier.
Now the film is finished and was premiered last Friday in an open air performance on the shores of the lake where they used to train, and where the rowing club is still located.
The film story is - well, let's say rather improvised. The magical part is missing, which is a great pity on the one hand. On the other hand that way it's staying a private memory for the families, and that is good for us. The plot concentrates on mainly two team members, my father Hans Lenk (the first to cross the finishing line), impersonated by rising star Felix Kammerer, and the strokesman Manfred Rulffs (impersonated by prize Leonard Kunz) and their love stories which are told completely differently than they actually happened. (My father's love, Ulla, is impersonated by Svenja Jung.) Some drama added, not always adhering to historical or geographical correctness. I guess the script is considered more marketable that way.
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| My mother and actress Svenja Jung |
It was fun to be involved - if you knoŵ when and where to look (and have an inkling how I was dressed up) you can see my approx. 3 seconds appearance in the scenes in the tavern (offers for future Hollywood engagements please via email).
It’s a cool film. And it's true insofar as there was a team of nine, they had an impressive coach, and they won the gold medal. Nothing much else is true.
Coming to movie theatres in September - but I don't knoe about international showings. I assume they will try...
