Germans are funny part 2

In the hours leading up to the Christmas Eve festivities I caught some of the news for the day. A famous actor named Johannes Heesters died at the age of 108. The man’s career is impressive, spanning decades of theater, film and music. He was even appearing in films and plays earlier this year before his passing on Christmas Eve.

Later that evening at home I was introduced to a classic comedy movie from 1985 titled Otto der Film. I must admit that though my language skills are adequate, watching TV and especially movies is still a formidable task. I’ve found particularly with comedies that a lot of the humor lies in word play and regional expressions, which I still struggle to grasp in the moment (imagine those situations where you catch yourself laughing at a joke you’d heard half an hour ago). Most of the time, I manage to get a few of the puns and enjoy some of the witty banter but by and large a lot of the dialogue kind of escapes me.

This particular film was however easier to follow. A lot of its humor was in physical comedy. True to its time, it was a pretty safe laugh to have your protagonist accidentally light something on fire or nearly escape a comical death. In addition to these slapstick situations, this film had an almost annoyingly entertaining lead character, Otto (Waalkes), a film and music star whose career continues to such contemporary works as voicing the sloth in the German Ice Age films. Otto, a young man from a small town setting, comes to the big city (Hamburg) to make his fortune. Most of all he is engaged with two problems: How can he impress Silvia, a rich young girl whose life he accidentally saves, and where does he get 9876,50 Deutsche Marks to pay off a loan shark he struck a dubious deal with to get his start up funds? 

Incidentally, the aforementioned Johannes Heesters even has a cameo in this film. After saving the life of Silvia, Otto meets her parents. Obviously his eccentric nature is a clear juxtaposition to Silvia’s privileged upbringing, and nothing her stuffy mother approves of in comparison to the Brazilian suitor Ernesto. As a thank you, Silvia’s mother gives Otto an old bottle of wine. After singing the mother to sleep with a comedic song about sheep, he thought briefly about stealing a piece of jewelry to cover his debt, but a recurring theme in the film, Otto’s moral dialogue of good guy on one shoulder bad one on the other, talked him out of it.

Later in the film, Otto, after throwing back a few, crashes a classy dinner at the Crème de la Crème, where he hopes to profess his love for Silvia in front of the high society guests. Naturally, this plan goes awry and Otto ends up being thrown out of the restaurant. In a fit of anger, Otto rifles through the trunk of his shabby car to find something to throw and comes across the bottle of wine. Cue Johannes Heesters, who stops Otto mid-throw to urge him not to waste a bottle of wine. The two then open the bottle (Johannes obviously had a cork screw and paper cups), and toasted. After a few sips, and a bit of dialogue, Johannes begins to comment on the quality of this wine. He speculates it’s from 1902 or perhaps even 1901. He then checks the label to find it’s an 1899 bottle of wine. He rejoices in how lucky he is to savor such a treasure, Otto seemingly unimpressed with the quality shrugs and continues to slurp. The man then goes on to comment on how much a bottle like this one brought in at a recent auction. Can you guess the amount? Spoiler alert, it’s exactly how much he owes.

Not only physical comedy and irony, this film also boasts a bit of parodying, as well as a nod to classic American cinema (in this humble observer’s opinion). After having a meaty dinner at a local Greek restaurant with his beloved Silvia, there is a sudden rainstorm. A la Gene Kelly, Otto opens his umbrella and does a charming dance in the rain, leaving Silvia cold and wet. After his little dance, they begin walking in the direction of a cemetery when suddenly, out of the graves bodies start moving. Keep in mind this is 1985, a few years after Michael Jackson’s, “Thriller.” All of a sudden there are a group of men, whom I later found out were dressed as a German folk singer Heino singing one of his songs all in a zombie like robot motion.  I only got one level of the humor, as I could clearly tell it was a take on Thriller, but had to have the folk singer part explained to me.
(please excuse the second screenshot, I felt it was necessary, despite the poor quality, to illustrate what I consider to be the tribute)

Smash cut to the end, Otto ends up dressed as a flight attendant on a plane with Silvia, her mother, Ernesto, and a bunch of Karneval clad party goers on their way to Rio. Aboard are two bank robbers who knocked out the pilot and co-pilot and forced Otto to fly. He lands on what he thinks is Cuba but is actually an aircraft carrier. Turns out, Ernesto wasn’t as rich as he said he was and Silvia and Otto end up together. 

It was worth a laugh and at least I'm to the point where I can follow a movie! Here is a video clip, he could certainly have lent some noise to the Stomp crew.