English summary

Heimat, eine Deutsche Chronik is back! This 890-minute epic made by Edgar Reitz in the early 1980s tells the story of 20th-century German politics and social and cultural history, taking as its focus the daily lives of Maria, the Simon family and the residents of the village of Schabbach. It has taken almost ten years to rescue and restore the reels of film.  The result is sumptuous! Movie W is screening this masterpiece in a seven-part series on the Sunday evenings between 22 May and 3 July.

• Sunday 3 July (19.30 hrs) Episode 7: Die stolzen Jahren/Das Fest der Lebenden und der Toten (1967-1982) 158 min.
  Two secretive men drive through the forest near Schabbach on their way to Anton, with the intention of buying his patent for 60 million DM. Anton seeks advice from his father Paul, who is staying in Baden Baden with his son Hermann. Paul advises him to sell, so that he can devote his time to his hobbies. But Anton doesn’t follow his advice. Ernst has found a new source of income: first he buys up the old facades, doors and furniture of the people living on the Hunsrück, then he sells them on at a profit as antiques. Then the same families buy new windows, doors and facades from him. Maria has died. The whole family attends her funeral. While it is going on, Ernst’s sends men to search her home for antiques. Anton catches them at it and sends them packing. Shortly afterwards, together with Hermann and Ernst, he combs the house, looking for souvenirs of his youth. Maria stands in Schabbach’s banqueting hall wearing only her nightdress. She is welcomed by all the dead … For the living, Schabbach has a fair. But Anton collapses, to Martha’s great consternation. Hermann discovers the old mine tunnel and his music…