The ARD is turning the novel “Hauke Haien’s Death”, which Robert Habeck once wrote with his wife Andrea Paluch, into a television play. This is just bad.
April 27, 2024, 4:48 p.m
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The television film “The Flood – Death on the Deich”, which is based on a novella by Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck and his wife Andrea Paluch, is viewed skeptically by some. The template is about the novella “The Schimmelreiter” by Theodor Storm and interweaves the themes of climate change and social resistance to technological progress. With regard to the current political landscape, parts of the fictional work read like comments on current debates on no-Covid policy and the energy transition. However, critics complain that the film is too convincing and leaves no room for interpretation. In particular, it is criticized that the characters and plot lines are too clear and therefore lack the typical ambiguity of literary works. The film will be broadcast on ARD on April 27th at 8:15 p.m.
Hauke Haien (Detlev Buck) with his little daughter Wienke (Hanna Frieda Weiss) © ARD Degeto/Nordfilm GmbH/Christine Schroeder
It is a characteristic of great literature that it stands above time without being timeless in any way. In Theodor Storm’s novella The Pale Rider it is a – let’s say – productive ambiguity that ensures this. Not only does the ghost rider float silently over the dike, the narrative also floats above tangible levels of meaning. Is the hubris of those who believe in progress in the person of the dogged dike chief Hauke Haien digging a watery grave here? Or are backward villagers, led by large farmer Ole Peters, ruining a better life for themselves through obscurantism? It’s a bit of a read Gray rider
today like an early comment on the discussions about the no-Covid policy or the very current dispute about who screwed up the energy transition and where. And that’s the highlight: there is no clear answer. We don’t find out whether Haien’s plan for a modern, stable dike would have worked if it hadn’t been thwarted halfway through by the lateral thinkers around Ole Peters.