Heidi (2015) Reviews

• Very good adaption of a national epos

  dbudelsky2016-02-07

  Yesterday, i went to the Cinema to look Heidi with my wife to to please her. Besides of the good reviews and the participation of Bruno Ganz I didn't expect too much. But the film convinced me totally, especially emotional. The film is very faithful to the books of J. Spyri even to small details. They are used very good to compound the overall story. Therefore, the film lacks inventions for the story telling. Instead it is using a proper selection of the original material given. As J. Spyri defined the idealised view on Switzerland, this Swiss film showed it as the story was intended . The looks of the Dörfli, the mountain pasture and Frankfurt are really faithful and believable while idealised as it was intended. The Alps panorama was breathtaking as could be expected from a Swiss film. The casting was very good. The short scene of the Alp-Öhi with the Grandma Sesemann played by H. Hoger showed the great actors chosen. The children were very good, too. Anuk Steffen had to carry the complete weight of the story with leading adult actors and she really did. The facial expressions and the language with the mild Swiss dialect was perfect. The roles of Fräulein Rottenmeier and the teacher was laid out overacted. I think it was made to attract children for this film. For a film targeting only adults this was too much. The story is well known, I think and of course J. Spyris master work making it one of Swiss national epics (Quotation from B. Ganz why he took the role). The film follows this absolutely truthfully. For the content of both books, the time is too short so psychological developments could only be hinted at. Another half hour of an extended version concentrating on the development of personal relationships as Heidi <-> Alp-Öhi would make the film perfect. But then it may be too long for a young audience.

• You can call her the daughter of the Alps.

  Reno-Rangan2016-08-04

  Not everybody knows Heidi. People are taking about their favourite versions, but for me this is the first film and I loved it. Now I'm not going to watch the other versions, because I think nothing would surpass this one. I'll stand by my statement till someone convince me over. This is definitely the Swiss version of 'The Secret Garden', except the garden is so big and not a secret. Hailing from a Himalayan nation, I do love the Alps more for its beauty than the snowy and rocky Himalayas. Last month I saw another film theme related to the Alps called 'Brothers of Wind'. So lately I've been watching some fine films, pure children's films where adults too can have a great time. I think the casting was good, especially the little girl in the title role. She has given her best despite no prior experience in the acting. So whenever I remember this film in the future, her trademark smile as Heidi is the image I'll be seeing. This is the best family film with an awesome story. It might not make sense compared to the real world, certainly not to be considered as a fairytale. Not just because it has no magics, but it is comparable to Disney films. Very cheerful narration with a steady pace. Blending background score and equally matched greenery locations to the story, overall everything worked in its favour. The film was based on a century old Swiss children's book of the same name. The film runs for nearly a two hours. The story of a young girl named Heidi, who lost both her parents and now she is left in her grandfather's custody who lives high in the Alps. She finally finds a place where she can be happy, but not for a very long. One day her aunt comes back to take her to another house where she will be accompanying a wealthy girl, Klara. After sometimes, the time comes to choose between her new friend Klara and the happy life back in the Alps with her grandfather. How the rest of the story shapes up is the another excellent half with a beautiful conclusion. "People like saying nasty things. You have to decide whether to trust your own eyes and ears or what other people say." The film opens and ends with showing an eagle and we know that the Alps' magnificent creature which depicts the Heidi's life in the human form to go all the struggles to be free one day to soar high under the blue sky. But when she was refused by her aunt and followed by her grandfather, that is the moment anybody with the light heart would end up very sad for the inhumane treatment on a little innocent child. The adult might take it differently, but this film is for children and those who love children as the punchline says from the original book cover. Felt like I knew the story, but not really, except I was familiar with similar themes. Even though, pretty predictable and I did not care, but just enjoyed it. Despite all the issues, Heidi was not portrayed in the very harsh conditions. There are some evil characters, but not so terrifying as one from 'Cinderella' story or any other similar. This screenplay might be altered, but I don't know the original material to confirm that. This is a film for families, so the contents from it was balanced to fit on that. I think the director did his part so well and so the actors from the front of the camera. The cinematography was another highlight of the film. The camera angles totally caught my attention and I never stopped to admire the great Alps. The final scene in the film where Heidi runs by stretching her hands mimicking the eagle on the mountain along the goat herd, she stops suddenly and turns back to give a cute smile, you definitely don't want the film to end. But obviously you can re- watch like I did because it's well worth. I have not seen many Swiss films, but this is one of the best from that part and surely I won't end my review without recommending it to all. 9/10

• Heidi is Back

  westsideschl2017-07-11

  Yes, it does have German or English options as well as English subtitles. The best Heidi I've seen; did it cover all Heidi story aspects - probably not, but what it did cover was more than sufficient to keep the viewer engaged. Acting - superb; filming, editing - superb; authenticity and beauty of scenes - superb. Yes, it's hard to go wrong with this story and you already know how it turns out, but no matter it still felt suspenseful and warm and kindly and adventuresome.

• Am A Naturalized Swiss, and Don't Know Heidi

  SerpentMage2016-03-19

  Born in Germany, grew up in North America, lived all over Europe, and am a Swiss (Naturalized) and did not know the story of Heidi. My wife said, "don't you remember the cartoons?" Answer: NO. It is an excellent movie and being German (born near Frankfurt) / Swiss dual citizen, I actually truly appreciated its reality and adherence to the people and the land. While others may say, "oh where is this", this movie paid attention to how people were of that time. I was surprised by that. The story itself might not be accurate the the cartoons, but as my wife says, "you know it is a story right?" Well, and here is the thing the movie is very true to the original story, and not the cartoons. Swiss appreciated the movie because they did not use a German dialect throughout the entire movie. They used a true Swiss dialect when appropriate. So does the movie skip? Sure, it does, but it only has 2 hours to cover a complicated story. They decided to focus on the main parts of the original story and did a very good job.

• Beautifully cast, innocent and moved me to tears

  zengesther2016-09-03

  It's the first time for me to write a review. But I'm very much moved by this movie. I haven't read the original book, and I read the previous review saying this is supposed to be a movie for children and she doesn't see her son/daughter laugh. I think this is too harsh for the movie. The scenes are cast as beautiful as it can be, reflecting the pure innocence of the kids for sure. The pure affection among kids are well cast through their innocent smiles. What touched me the most was the nostalgia that Heidi had towards her mountains, and the soft bread that she saved for Peter's grandmother. I hated peter for a while, but the moment he helped Clara stand up. I can see the cute part of a child when he pushed down Clara's wheelchair. If I have to pick some imperfections in this movie, it would be the quite abrupt ending. Suddenly, Clara can move perfectly, and Heiti got a blank notebook to fill her stories. This setting is diluting the innocence in the movie. Another part, is the relationship between Heiti and her grandfather was only emphasized in the very beginning and left unattended since Clara appears.