German Movie Reviews
Review: Vaya con Dios
VAYA CON DIOS
2002 GERMANY 102 MIN COLOR 35 MM
DIRECTOR: Zoltan Spirandelli
GENRE: Comedy/Road Movie
AWARDS: Bavarian Film Awards: Best New Director, Best New Actor/Actress
In German with English subtitles
U.S. RELEASE: N/A
Vaya con Dios
Three singing monks and a girl
“Und führe uns in Versuchung” - “And lead us into temptation”
- Tagline for VAYA CON DIOS
At first glance, this hardly seems to be a German film at all. First of all, it's funny! But with the title VAYA CON DIOS and a director named Spirandelli, one almost expects to see an impish Roberto Benigni pop up in yet another Italian comedy. But German-born Zoltan Spirandelli has turned his first full-length feature film into a delightful, above-average comedy about three German monks forced to abandon their timeless monastery and venture out into the modern world.
Three monks and a girl.
Photo: Senator Film AG
Spirandelli's German comedy had its U.S. premiere in Los Angeles at AFI Fest 2002 in November. Good German comedies that actually translate well into English are rare. (“Manitou's Shoe,” an English-dubbed version of the German Western hit parody DER SCHUH DES MANITU, also had its U.S. premiere at AFI Fest, but it isn't funny in English.) Although many critics praised it, VAYA CON DIOS was sadly under-appreciated in its homeland market when it was released in March 2002, so we can only hope that this entertaining “monastic road movie” will somehow make it to our shores.
Spirandelli, his cast, and crew also undertook their own road trip while making what one German reviewer has termed a “melancholic comedy.” Much of the film's 43-day shooting schedule was spent in the German states of Baden-Württemberg (Stuttgart, Karlsruhe), Saxony (Chorin), Thuringia (Altenburg), and in Italy. The film they created is a comedic road trip through both time and space.
Following the death of their head abbot and the foreclosure of their Brandenburg monastery, three monks—Benno, Tassilo, and Arbo—must set out to find the only other remaining members of their order in faraway Tuscany. Like Goethe, the trio sets off on an Italian journey, but they quickly discover that years of monastic isolation and cultural naiveté have left them ill-equipped to deal with a world full of cars, trains, cell phones, and... women. After all, these guys are using a road map that still shows Bavaria as an independent kingdom!
Carrying the order's precious volume of monastic writings with them, the three monks at first tramp across colorful German fields on their way to Italy. But soon they encounter a highway where the lovely young Chiara (Chiara Schoras) happens to be driving her Mercedes convertible to a photo assignment. Standing in the road is the young Arbo (Daniel Brühl), as startled to see a Mercedes as Chiara is to see a monk standing in the middle of the road. After almost running Arbo down and crashing into a ditch, Chiara reluctantly lets the monks talk her into taking them part of the way on their journey.
As in any road movie (even one with monks), the ensuing adventures and temptations are somewhat predictable, and there are a few gaping holes in this film's story logic, but under Spirandelli's direction we're willing to forget them as we enjoy the many comic and touching moments that arise out of the natural attraction between two young people of the opposite sex (monk or no monk), and the conflicts between religious and worldly concerns.
On the first night of their road trip, the strange group camps out for the night. The next day, the harmonious singing voices of the Cantorian monks can be heard echoing a capella through the woods. Later, as Chiara is taking photographs of Arbo, she asks him to photograph her. He takes the camera but hesitates to shoot. When Chiara asks him what the problem is, he replies, “How can I choose just one moment, when they are all so beautiful?” Okay, it may sound corny, but she's hooked, and Arbo will also never be the same.
Benno, Arbo, and Chiara on the road.
Photo: Senator Film AG
The longer they are exposed to the outside world, the more the brothers are torn apart by various worldly attractions. Tassilo (Matthias Brenner) wants to stay with the mother he has not seen for years in East Germany, while Benno (Michael Gwisdek) encounters a former rival from a competing order. The young Arbo is torn between his attraction to Chiara and his Cantorian order. However, it is Arbo who eventually brings the brothers back together and helps them get to Italy. But, to Spirandelli's credit, the story doesn't end as neatly and simply as one might expect. Is it a happy ending? Well, you'll have to be the judge, but when was the last time you watched a comedy spiked with Gregorian chants and choral music?
In the wrong hands this all could have turned into another goofy German comic disaster, but Spirandelli has created more than just a simple comedy. He has also given us a modern parable about divisions: religious and secular, East and West (Germany), spiritual and physical. But he does so with music, an excellent acting team, and a comedic touch that is at the same time enjoyable and uplifting. In the process he reminds us that harmony and disharmony are both elements of life, that we should listen to our inner voice, and we don't always arrive where we thought we were headed.
VAYA CON DIOS
Written and Directed by Zoltan Spirandelli
Cinematography: Dieter Deventer
Starring: Daniel Brühl (as Arbo), Chiara Schoras (as Chiara), Michael Gwisdek (as Benno), Matthias Brenner (as Tassilo), Heinz Trixner (as Father Claudius), Traugott Buhre (as Abbot Stefan), Christel Peters (as Tassilo's mother)
This Film on DVD (German, Region 2)
DVD (Region 2/PAL): Vaya con Dios
See the German-Hollywood DVD Store for this DVD and other German films.
DVD Release: Jan. 9, 2003
Note: This is a German Region 2 PAL DVD.
It will not play on a normal U.S. DVD player.
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