It is impossible to speak of the central fact of the plot of this lovely film without spoiling it, but it is worth mentioning that it draws on (and asks to be compared to) Alpine folktales. The isolation of the family is an aspect of many Swiss and other montagnard tales; in this film, the tension between the lure of the modern world (it happens in 1984, after all) and the traditional ways of the mountain is constantly there, but somewhat subdued. The choice of the family to keep their deaf son at home (rather than institutionalizing him) leads to dramatic complications and precipitates the startling conclusion (not "inadequate," in my view, but definitely open to varied interpretation). That the son breaks rock--both as punishment and as a kind of affirmation of his connection to the natural world--while the mother continues prayers to the Blessed Virgin that seem never to have been answered, nor likely to be--also link the story to traditional folktales. Overall, it has that in common with John Sayles's Secret of Roan Inish and perhaps Julie Dash's Daughters of the Dust, but there is very little reverence for the past in this film, as contrasted with those others. It is definitely a film worth renting and viewing. Slow, yes, but intense.
7 Reviews
Swiss masterpiece
johray-plus22 July 2006
No, I'm not into Heimatfilm!!! The more I'm delighted by finding this masterstroke by Fredi Murer. A film that can't be compared to anything I've yet. The swiss alps are home and place of this drama. Bub and Belli are sisters and they fall in love; mostly cause there is no one else to fall in love with on their father's farm. The actors do amazing work on their difficult characters while the whole setting is beautiful and depressing at once... Even humor isn't completely lacking in this drama!
A film that produces unforgettable moods and scenes....
Watch it!!!
A film that produces unforgettable moods and scenes....
Watch it!!!
One of the best Swiss films
dinimueter4 August 2006
"Hoehenfeuer" intimately shows the powerful and sad story of a family in the Swiss alps, living far from the next village, and its deaf son who not only feels trapped in his lack of hearing but also in the narrow-minded context of the family.
Its beautiful camera shows the alps how they really are (or at least were): the old snow, the sleeping trees, the cold, wet air, the hard life.
The film is gnarled like the old trees standing there and looking at what these poor people do, how the story inevitably goes where it has to go.
If you say "drama in the winter alps", I say "Hoehenfeuer" for sure.
Its beautiful camera shows the alps how they really are (or at least were): the old snow, the sleeping trees, the cold, wet air, the hard life.
The film is gnarled like the old trees standing there and looking at what these poor people do, how the story inevitably goes where it has to go.
If you say "drama in the winter alps", I say "Hoehenfeuer" for sure.
Lovely and mysterious masterpiece
Drogo_Tighfield11 March 2005
Warning: Spoilers
I saw this movie in the Filmoteca of my city, Zaragoza, in a cycle of contemporary Swiss cinema, without any ideas above it, and I discovered a movie astonishing, narrated of the most personal way. It's nothing conventional, in spite of it's a film located in mountains and with a family of farmers (no, it's not Heidi).
This hardest history includes very interesting transgressions like the incest of two brothers, where he, in addition, is mental delayed and to whom interest the feminine bodies more and more to him, so not known in those places for him.
In Spain I at least do not have certainty of which it was released, in the year of its accomplishment, 1985.
Finally, in press book which I saw of this film he put a thing that called the attention to me; "this film it could have been invented by Buñuel...or a Japanese". I agree.
This hardest history includes very interesting transgressions like the incest of two brothers, where he, in addition, is mental delayed and to whom interest the feminine bodies more and more to him, so not known in those places for him.
In Spain I at least do not have certainty of which it was released, in the year of its accomplishment, 1985.
Finally, in press book which I saw of this film he put a thing that called the attention to me; "this film it could have been invented by Buñuel...or a Japanese". I agree.
Atmospheric, but too long
Horst_In_Translation6 October 2015
Warning: Spoilers
"Höhenfeuer" or "Alpine Fire" is a 30-year-old movie set in the Alps. The language is Swiss German and the accents are very thick, so make sure you get a good set of subtitles watching this. The cast is fairly small, which I usually like as there are not too many characters to concentrate on. These almost 2 hours were the Swiss submission to the Academy award 1 year after the country won the honor, but this one did not even come close to such an achievement. The director is Fredi M. Murer, not exactly a prolific filmmaker, but one of Switzerland's most influential writers and directors in the last 50 years. I am not familiar with any of the cast members in here. Some of them had decent career, some not so much, some even never appeared in any other film. I guess people outside Switzerland will have difficulties recognizing any of them.
The story is about a brother and sister who grow very close, and at some point too close and become a couple. So yep, this is a film about incest, but nothing too explicit really. Things get even more complicated when the girl is pregnant. I guess you could give Murer a thumbs up for achieving that I found the two somewhat likable despite their obscene and forbidden tendencies. Maybe it was because pretty much everybody else was fairly unlikeable and the duo felt more like victims of the whole situations than really doing something horrible. Nonetheless, I must say, even if this was a pretty atmospheric watch, it was simply too long. The story just wasn't enough for almost 120 minutes. A half hour less would have been fine, maybe around the 85-minute mark. In my opinion, that way the film would have been more relevant and also essential. This way here, I cannot recommend it. Thumbs down.
The story is about a brother and sister who grow very close, and at some point too close and become a couple. So yep, this is a film about incest, but nothing too explicit really. Things get even more complicated when the girl is pregnant. I guess you could give Murer a thumbs up for achieving that I found the two somewhat likable despite their obscene and forbidden tendencies. Maybe it was because pretty much everybody else was fairly unlikeable and the duo felt more like victims of the whole situations than really doing something horrible. Nonetheless, I must say, even if this was a pretty atmospheric watch, it was simply too long. The story just wasn't enough for almost 120 minutes. A half hour less would have been fine, maybe around the 85-minute mark. In my opinion, that way the film would have been more relevant and also essential. This way here, I cannot recommend it. Thumbs down.
Interesting
Holy-431 August 2000
alpine family living in the mountains
camel-93 March 2000
this is a peculiar film. In the bucolic mountain settings of swiss alps, a rural family raising cows and living in a mountain hut, struggles with the awkward behavior of the deaf child. The sudden ending is an anti-climax. As the mountain fog envelops the hut and the family, with the cow's neck bells in the audio background, the movie ends, the lights in the theater are turned on, and one has to wonder what the message was. Definitely *not* the average story of swiss alps family.
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