Climbing for Gold
Sympathetically filmed short documentary film about Belgian paraclimber, Fré Leys, whose long-held wish is to become world champion.
The setting is the Austrian Alps around 1900. No one knows exactly how old orphan Andreas Egger is when he arrives at the Kranzstocker farm in the valley. Andreas is looked upon merely as cheap labour by his god-fearing, yet brutish employer. Only the old Ahnl shows him any kind of affection. When she dies, now an adult, nothing can hold Andreas back.
Bursting with energy and enthusiasm, he joins a team of workers which is building one of the first cable cars, which will also bring electricity and tourists to the valley. With his savings, he buys a plot and builds a simple hut high up in the mountains, where he creates a home for himself and his beloved. Their happiness is but short-lived and when the Second World War breaks out, Andreas is conscripted and later taken prisoner by the Russians. After many years away, he returns to the valley and looks back in amazement at the missing years.
What Seethaler expressed in words in his short but intense novel is impressively interpreted by Hans Steinbichler, who himself grew up surrounded by mountains in the Chiemgau: “The cameraman and I used a lot of mountain shots for this film,” says the director. “I think the film shows the mountain landscape in a completely cinematic fashion. It’s an attempt to imitate Caspar David Friedrich in the mountains.”
Hans Steinbichler studied at the HFF Munich and received several awards for his debut film, Hierankl (2003). His film adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank premiered at the 2016 Berlinale. Ein ganzes Leven was also nominated for several categories of the German and Austrian film awards. Stefan Gorski, who plays Andreas Egger, won the Bavarian Film Award for his performance.
