In a little Sorbian village in East Germany, old farmer Krestan owns a little land and few animals, which he intends to bequeath to his daughter Lena. When the government announces a plan to collectivize all the farms, Krestan is reluctant to hand over his property, and his neighbors share his sentiments. But when they realize the great advantages of collective ownership, they happily join in.
The film was adapted from Jurij Brězan's novel by the same name, published in 1953. 52 Weeks Make One Year was the first East German film about the collectivization of agriculture in the country.[1]
Reception
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany's magazine, Einheit, dubbed 52 Weeks as one of the films "that were completely supportive of the struggle for German unity and against imperialism and war."[2] Sylvia Klötzer wrote that the film was made in Socialist Realist style.[3] Johannes von Moltke noted that while "suffused with images of rural bliss... rhythms of nature and local tradition" typical to the genre of Homeland films, 52 Weeks "is not entirely irreconcilable with the belief in progress" and is an example of the East German agrarian pictures that focused on the benefits of the collectivization.[4] The Catholic Film Service called it "formalistic, but with good acting."[5]
^Zentralkomitee der Sozialistischen Einheitspartei Deutschlands. Einheit, 1956. p. 638.
^Sylvia Klötzer. Satire und Macht: Film, Zeitung, Kabarett in der DDR. Böhlau Verlag (2005). ISBN978-3-412-15005-1. p. 91.
^Johannes von Moltke. No Place Like Home: Locations of Heimat in German Cinema. University of California Press (2005). ISBN978-0-520-24410-8. pp. 171–172.
