“The boy has to get some fresh air”
This film makes you feel great
“The boy has to get some fresh air” runs on October 3rd on Sat.1.
© © 2018 UFA Fiction GmbH / Warner Bros Entertainment GmbH / Julia Terjung
“The boy has to get some fresh air” comes on free TV. The film is based on the book by Hape Kerkeling. This is why it is worth switching on:
“The boy has to get some fresh air” celebrates its free TV premiere. Hape Kerkeling (56) landed a great success in autumn 2014 with the autobiographical novel of the same name. The film was released in cinemas at Christmas 2018. Sat.1 shows this on October 3rd (8:15 p.m.).
That’s what it’s about
The film, which is about Kerkeling’s childhood, causes great emotions. Little Hans-Peter (Julius Weckauf) grew up in the Ruhr area in the early 1970s. He lives in the midst of happy and party-mad relatives and shows early on his great talent for making others laugh. In his grandmother’s small shop he imitates the customers and at home he also gives his ideas the best – encouraged and supported by his other grandmother, who recognizes early on that Hans-Peter has special skills.
Soon the nine-year-old has to use this to get his mother (Luise Heyer) out of her emotional hole. After an operation, she loses her sense of smell and taste and slips into depression. For hours she sits on a chair and stares out the window …
Conclusion
The film remains very close to the original book in its saddest moment, the suicide of Hans-Peter’s mother. That evening, his mother was “balanced, almost cheerful,” says Kerkeling in the book. Her last words to her son were: “I’m going to sleep now, Hans-Peter. It’s still summer vacation and that’s why you can watch TV for as long as you want today.” After the broadcast had ended, he did not go to his room as usual, “but for once I want to lie very quietly in bed with Mom. Something tells me that I should do exactly that”.
As moving as Kerkeling describes his mother’s fate and illness in the book, director Caroline Link also realized the story for the screen. “The boy has to get some fresh air” is a film that makes you laugh and cry – and both at the same time. There is also a great acting ensemble, from the young Julius Weckauf to stars like Ursula Werner, Joachim Król, Rudolf Kowalski, Elena Uhlig and Diana Amft.