Der Schatz der Nibelungen
Synopsis
Two-part docudrama investigating the historical core behind the German national epic of the Nibelungenlied. Following the legend, Hagen von Tronje treacherously murders the dragon-slayer Siegfried, banishes Siegfried's widow Kriemhild from the court of the Burgundians and sinks the immense Nibelungen treasure — said to be 144 ox-cart loads of gold and jewels — into the Rhine, knowing only he holds the location.
Pixable Role
Service
Scope of Work
CGI map animation
Production Partners
LE Vision Film- und Fernsehproduktion GmbH (Leipzig); MDR (commissioning ARD partner); arte (broadcaster)
Client
LE VISION; ARD; MDR
Director
ürgen Stumpfhaus, André Meier
Writers
Jürgen Stumpfhaus, André Meier
Cast
On-screen narrator / Sprecher: Christian Schult.
Featured experts include Germanist Alfred Ebenbauer (filmed at a red-deer enclosure to explain the etymology of "Cherusker" from the Germanic word for stag) and additional academic contributors filmed at original Nibelungenlied locations.
Reenactment-style scenes are intercut with archival material from Fritz Lang's silent classic "Die Nibelungen — Siegfrieds Tod" (1924).
Distribution
Original broadcast on arte; later released on home video as "Der Schatz der Nibelungen — Auf den Spuren einer Sage" (DVD).
Themes
Nibelungenlied as German national epic · myth versus historical fact · Arminius / Hermann der Cherusker and the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest · Germanic Migration Period (1st–6th centuries AD) · Roman Limes and the fall of the Western Empire · the lost Nibelungen treasure · early German cinema (Fritz Lang's 1924 silent classic referenced as visual material)
