Sources of Life (2013) User Reviews (2)

Pretty good for a 3-hour film

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 3 December 2015]

"Quellen des Lebens" or "Sources of Life" is a German-language movie from 2 years ago and it may be the closest to what we had in recent history to a modern epic movie, at least here in Germany. The reason is not only because it runs for almost 3 hours (the longest film I have seen in a while, since the last "Heimat" chapter), but also chronicles the life of 3 generations of a family. I watched this one back then when it came to theaters and I watched it now again. I enjoyed it on both occasions and it is quite an achievement that there are no moments in here when this film drags, or only very few. The director and writer is Oskar Roehler, one of Germany's most successful filmmakers of the last 15 years. He adapted his own novel for this movie. The cast includes some of Germany's most famous actors, such as Jürgen Vogel, Meret Becker, Moritz Bleibtreu, Lavinia Wilson, Sonja Kirchberger, Thomas Heinze and others. Margarita Broich scored a German Film award nomination for her turn. Unfortunately, there are also fairly untalented actors in here such as Kostja Ullmann or Wilson Gonzalez Ochsenknecht, but as they did not have that much screen time, they were fairly bearable.

My favorite performance probably came from Jürgen Vogel in here, especially in the first third of the film. His character returns from war and struggles with reintegration. Luckily, traditional German goods like garden gnomes make his life worth living. A struggling, but very likable character, who also takes care of his grandson at some point when his son and wife simply cannot deal with parenthood anymore. Another great strength here is the music. "Dust in the Wind" is a beautiful song and there are other good tunes in there as well, mostly standing for the time and society in which the particular scenes take place. This includes songs from all genres as this movie spans over several decades.

"Quellen des Lebens" is certainly a contender for Roehler's best work, or at least only counting those films I have seen so far. You should not approach this one as a historic movie, even if it has components in terms of that as well like I mentioned before (for example Willy Brandt on television), but really as the chronology of a family that has struggles like every other family, but also known to stick together when the going gets tough. And it's not necessarily a feel-good movie which I always like as the ending for example shows that some bonds cannot be unbroken. Good acting, good script and an enjoyable watch overall. I recommend "Quellen des Lebens".

A very strange movie

[Hightower2232 · 4/10 · 4 February 2014]

Oskar Roehler's movie is hard to classify. He wants to tell a story about a family that covers thirty years but for the viewer it's hard to say if it's a drama or a grotesqueness. The movie never finds a balance between them. Roehler's cast contains some of Germany's best actors: Jürgen Vogel, Moritz Bleibtreu, Meret Becker - but the script doesn't allow them to really perform in the best way possible. Instead Vogel has to be the grumpy granddad who hardly shows any feelings. Bleibtreu has to play a one-dimensional idiot who still orders his son to go to bed and drink his milk once he is almost a grown-up. It's only the young actors - Leonard Scheicher and Lisa Smit - whose natural performing skills save the film somehow. I cannot really recommend to watch this movie - if not for the soundtrack that consists of a couple of the best rock and pop songs of the era.