Horst in Translation ([email protected])
"Dieter" is an animated German movie from 2006. It runs for comfortably under 1.5 hours and is the most known work for both writers here, but not for the two directors who have also been prolific with the Werner Beinhart franchise. I liked that one and I like this film here as well as the approach is somewhat similar in terms of story-telling and animation. It is "only" a small screen release, but it could also have deserved a big screen release in my opinion. This is basically a Dieter Bohlen biopic, even if some parts were left out completely or almost completely. One example would be the protagonist's first marriage and the three children that were the result. And DSDS, Bohlen's long-running trademark show, also already existed back on 2006 for a couple years, but is not part of this movie. So it is a bit on the incomplete side. Instead, the focus is mostly on Bohlen's ill-fated relationships with Naddel and Verona Feldbusch as well as his tumultuous yet highly successful work relationship with Thomas Anders (and his wife Nora).I think many people who don't like this movie would argue that Bohlen is not a character who deserves his own biopic, but I disagree. He has sure gone through a whole lot in his life (he turned 63 this year) and there is enough material in here. Sure you could say that stuff like a broken penis is nothing that makes a difference or plays a role to anybody except himself, but this is exactly the point. It played a major role to himself and thus deserves being included in here. I also wrote earlier already that I like the Werner films and yes the approach here is very similar. Also the film does not know any taboos at all as you probably already realize from what I just wrote in the last sentence and that's excellent as we don't need any further politically correct garbage. I also think that this film has solid attention to detail, for example when it comes to the animations of minor characters in the background. They don't just stand there, but still move and do something, even if it does not really add anything to the story. I myself would not really call myself a fan of Bohlen and definitely not of his talent casting show, but there is no denying he made a lot of correct decisions in his life, financially and artistically, and the consequence is that virtually everybody here in Germany knows him, even if they may not like him. But this also may have to do with jealousy a bit. And after all, in terms of his show, the fish needs to like the bait, not the fisherman, so can you really blame Bohlen or RTL for what they are doing if millions of people suck it in every week?Anyway, back to this movie, Bohlen himself is the narrator and he has many lines, which is a nice addition and makes perfectly up for the fact that Bohlen does not do his own voice, it even gives a more autobiographical take to it all. With he exception of Völz and Harry Wijnvoord voicing the devil LOL (still these two only have one scene each), there are no known actors listed for this project, but that's perfectly fine as this doesn't mean they aren't doing a good job. On the contrary. The voice acting worked well together with the animation in my opinion. There were many funny scenes and this film never tries to be something it couldn't achieve. Even the more serious moments about Bohlen's childhood or his father's words still have some kind of lightness to them and matter anyway only to Bohlen himself. The movie is never preaching. But it is frequently funny. I recommend checking it out and regardless of you like it or not, there is no denying it is among the most famous German animated films of all time, even if I can see why some of the people depicted in there probably did not like it. But maybe it is just too honest? Go see it.
