Feature film
Alpine Fire
Höhenfeuer
Fredi M. Murer · 1985
Synopsis
An isolated farm, clinging to a mountainside. Belli, having left school, has become the servant of her own home; her younger brother, known as the Bub, is deaf from birth, and their father, who rejects modern life, will not send him to an institution. Belli teaches him to read, write and count, and their isolation makes them inseparable. As an adolescent, the boy quarrels violently with his father and runs away to the high pastures. His sister goes in search of him.
Context
Murer wrote and directed the film, produced by Bernard Lang's Langfilm with Swiss German-language and West German television. Pio Corradi did the cinematography, Mario Beretta the music, Helena Gerber the editing and Florian Eidenbenz the sound. Johanna Lier plays Belli and Thomas Nock the boy, with Dorothea Moritz and Rolf Illig as the parents. Presented in August 1985, it drew hundreds of thousands of admissions in Switzerland. A restored print was rereleased in France, by Carlotta, in December 2022.
Who it is for
Two hours, in Swiss German dialect. It is worth knowing that the family is alone in the world and that the father's law there stands in for everything else.
Prizes and reception
Golden Leopard at Locarno in 1985; it often tops lists of the best Swiss films.
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