Modern new version of the famous novel by Erich Kästner. On his way to Berlin from a small Baltic town, twelve-year-old Emil Tischbein is robbed by a petty thief. Upon arrival in Berlin, he follows the thief and soon finds support from a gang of kids led by young Pony Hütchen who organizes further help. The thief is finally overwhelmed by an enormous crowd of children.

Twelve-year-old Emil Tischbein lives with his unemployed father in a small town near the Baltic coast. When his father finally finds a new job, he loses his driving licence after an accident, lands in hospital and sends his son to stay with Ms. Hummel, his favourite teacher's sister, in Berlin for two weeks. In the train, Emil is robbed of all his savings by a petty thief Max Grundeis, who first of all promises to obtain a false driving licence for Emil's father. When they arrive in Berlin, Emil follows the thief to a pub where he meets Pony Hütchen. The girl is roughly the same age as Emil and leader of a gang of kids. She resolves to help Emil. At a meeting in an old underground vault, the children decide to send young Gypsi to Ms. Hummel and her only son Gustav, a loner, instead of Emil. Gypsi cheekily and self-confidently pretends to be Emil, leaving Emil free to act.

In the meantime, Emil and his new friends are hot on the heels of the thief, who has taken a room in the luxurious Hotel Adlon. Grundeis takes the other guests' keys and steals their jewellery. Emil wants to recover his money and takes possession of the jewels; Grundeis follows the boy, takes Pony hostage and demands that the jewels be handed over beside the giraffe compound in the zoo. The children produce leaflets organizing the thief's capture. When Grundeis leaves the zoo with his reclaimed booty, a constantly changing stream of children follow him. He finally seeks refuge in a church in which Ms. Hummel is preaching a sermon on "Justice for children", reading from a manuscript written by her son Gustav and Gypsi. Cornered, Grundeis tries to flee again, but the children stop him until the police arrive. Emil is rewarded, his father is offered a job and possibly even finds a new wife.

Franziska Buch's children's film EMIL UND DIE DETEKTIVE (EMIL AND THE DETECTIVES) is at least the fourth film version of Erich Kästner's novel which was published in 1928. The first adaptation, which even proved successful in the USA, was produced in 1931 by Gerhard Lamprecht, with Fritz Rasp as Grundeis; the script for this first film version was written by Emmerich Pressburger and Billy Wilder. R.A. Stemmle produced a second version in 1954. Barely ten years later, Walt Disney produced an American version with Peter Tewksbury, although with a German-speaking cast - including the legendary Walter Slezak.

Franziska Buch has thoroughly modernized the tale for her new film version. Pony Hütchen, a girl, becomes Emil's partner as the leader of a gang of kids, possibly a little at the expense of Gustav Hummel. The two even spend a night together under the Berlin sky. "I felt it was necessary to take account of the change in roles and to create a character with whom today's girls can identify and who can also set an example for them. The second major change is due to the fact that I felt it important to translate Kästner's subtle verbal wit into comic action. This resulted in a newly invented sideline to the film, a story of mistaken identity. The gipsy boy Gypsi is smuggled into the home of Emil's unsuspecting hosts as Emil's double while Emil and his "detectives" follow Grundeis. This confusion reinforces the comic aspect and creates further dramatic turbulence." (Franziska Buch) The decision to upgrade the girls' roles is also characteristic of the other two films of Kästner's novels PÜNKTCHEN UND ANTON and DAS FLIEGENDE KLASSENZIMMER. With this, the three Bavaria productions have consistently pursued a social development which Kästner could not have foreseen. The accessories, from mobile phones to skateboards, naturally also reflect today's world and the film music, with short musical excerpts and several rap songs, similarly follow modern trends.

What is much more important is that Franziska Buch has definitely questioned Erich Kästner's relatively intact world: Emil's mother has left her family, lives in Canada and intends to remarry shortly; the boy's father has suffered one let-down after another since she left. Pony Hütchen's family life is equally catastrophic; Emil witnesses a vicious fight between her parents; the girl's father is intent on getting a divorce. Gustav also grows up without a father - he died years ago - a lonely child, from whom Ms. Hummel almost expects too much. At the end, when the Berlin children visit Emil in his Baltic home, we have the hint of a possible liaison between Emil's father and Gustav's mother.

"In today's world, families break up and the traditional family with father, mother and children has almost ceased to exist. Yet children have a justified need for both father and mother - a need that frequently runs counter to the parents' right to happiness and self-fulfilment. I felt a particular need to highlight this conflict of broken families and its consequences from a child's point of view." This gives the unconditional bond between the children a new quality and a new meaning. The sermon written by Gustav and Gypsi must also be seen in this context, a sermon in which the two friends somewhat naively but energetically demand "justice for children" - a message that will be applauded without restraint by every young audience.

Hans Günther Pflaum

Production Country

Germany (DE)

Production Period

2000/2001

Production Year

2001

color

color

Aspect Ratio

1:1,85 (?)

Duration

Feature-Length Film (61+ Min.)

Type

Feature Film

Genre

Literary Adaptation

Topic

Relationship / Family, Literature, Coming of Age, Friendship

Target Group

Youth film (12-17), Junior film (7-11)

Available Media

35mm, DVD

Original Version

German (de)

35mm

Subtitles

English (en), French (fr), Spanish (es)

DVD

Subtitles

English (en), Spanish (es), French (fr), Portuguese (Brazil), German (full)