colourFIELD | UNDERWORLDS <br>GERMANY FROM BELOW (1/2)

UNDERWORLDS
GERMANY FROM BELOW (1/2)

TUNNELS, CAVES AND MARMOTS

In ancient mythology, the river on the border of Hades, the realm of the dead- conceals mysterious deep beneath the earth. Under the earth we place our dead, our ancestors took shelter in caves, as animals still do today. From the mines under the earth we have been extracting salt, ore, diamonds and coal. Even popular legends deal with dwarfs mining treasures underground out of our sight.

“Germany From Below“ uncovers hidden underworlds: the tunnels under the Elbe river in Hamburg, the complex subterrarean world beneath Potsdamer Platz in Berlin from the bunkers of WWII and the cold war, to the haunting ossuaries and spectacular underwater caves, to the vast shaft system of the gigantic Prosper Haniel coal mine and the deepest German cave, the Riesending.

Having revealed an entirely unknown Germany in ‘Germany From Above’, ‘Germany From Below’ takes us into the fascinating underworlds beneath our feet — a parallel world of mystery and fear, treasures and resources, protection and danger.

“Underworlds – Germany From Below“ takes the audience to a mysterious parallel world under the earth: offering a glimpse into a realm inaccessible to most of us.

We venture into the winter dens of marmots and see the animals’ sophisticated survival strategy, we follow a group of speleologists in the Riesending Cave. A labyrinth inside the legendary Untersberg mountain which stretches 20 kilometres into the mountain – and the end of the cave is yet to be discovered. We enter gigantic, glittering underground salt mines in Bernburg, a true subterranean city beneath the town. With sophisticated animations we plunge into the deepest groundwater flows and the tangled underworld network of mushrooms. We go underwater to the pipelines under an oil platform in the North Sea, to the flooded tunnels of the legendary cave Blauhöhle.

Under the earth dead people are preserved: in the creepy, largest German ossuary in Oppenheim, or in the mass grave of the cruel Thirty Years’ War in Lützen, where scientists are studying the remains of the soldiers in order to determine their origin and the living conditions of the time.

“Underworlds – Germany From Below“ takes the audience to a mysterious parallel world under the earth: offering a glimpse into a realm inaccessible to most of us.

UNDERWORLDS <br>GERMANY FROM BELOW (1/2)

Videos

Watch Trailer

Facts

Feedback

Credits

Facts

Nominated for the Adolf-Grimme Prize
Nominated for the German Camera Prize

1. Episode: First aired on 18th May 2014 , 7:30pm, ZDF
2. Episode: First aired on 25th May 2014 , 7:30 p.m, ZDF

Feedback

The Dortmund filmmakers achieved great public success with “Germany from Above.” Now they have shifted their perspective, demonstrating the exceptional talent of this documentary duo. Röckenhaus and Höfer use the general title to tell small, cleverly interwoven stories, not only about cave explorers, but also about an oil rig in the North Sea, marmots, and the network of fungi. The audience is by no means overwhelmed with text. The fantastic images and animations are effective. Only one question remains: Why haven't Röckenhaus and Höfer won a Grimme Prize yet?

WAZ / Jürgen Overkott

Feedback

There is something amazing to see on ZDF: huge caves created by nature, humans, or animals; miles of corridors, vaults as high as cathedrals, shafts whose ends no one has yet reached. They are explored by the makers of the extraordinary series “Germany from Above,” who this time have gone underground. What they uncover is just as breathtaking as their bird's-eye view of our country with their camera. Whether it's the salt mine in Bernburg in Saxony-Anhalt with its monumental caverns that look like a city beneath the city, the medieval ossuaries, some of which have only been discovered in recent years, or the “Riesending.” This is a cave on the Untersberg in the Berchtesgadener Land, which was only discovered in 2002 and whose entrance the explorers still keep secret today. It has everything: lakes, waterfalls, cliffs, canyons. According to legend, King Barbarossa lives here with a tribe of dwarves – they certainly have enough space. No less impressive, however, is what the marmots at Funtensee dig away on a smaller scale. The film tracks them with mini cameras and all the tricks of computer technology that the filmmakers have mastered. But what they show us is already an adventure in its original state. A journey into a wonderland.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung / Michael Hanfeld

Feedback

Be it the salt mine in Bernburg in Saxony-Anhalt with its monumental caverns, which look like a city beneath the city, or the medieval ossuaries, some of which have only been discovered in recent years, or the “Riesending.” This is a cave on the Untersberg in the Berchtesgadener Land, which was only discovered in 2002 and whose entrance the explorers still keep secret today. It has everything to offer: lakes, waterfalls, cliffs, canyons. According to legend, King Barbarossa lives here with a tribe of dwarves – they certainly have enough space. No less impressive, however, is what the marmots at Funtensee dig away on a smaller scale. The film tracks them with mini cameras and all the tricks of computer technology that the filmmakers have mastered. But what they show us is already an adventure in its original state. A journey into a wonderland.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung / Michael Hanfeld

Feedback

Flying high, Petra Höfer and Freddie Röckenhaus showed the country from a new perspective in their award-winning documentary “Germany from Above” (see FK 23/10). The reversal of perspective was obvious, so the two are now venturing into a fascinating world beneath people's feet and bringing us closer to “Germany from Below.” In their entertaining two-part science documentary, the two authors combine a wide variety of aspects of this topic. When they accompany researchers with their camera on an expedition into the “Riesending Cave” 1,200 meters below the Berchtesgadener Land, the images they capture are breathtaking—a documentary version of Jules Verne's film “Journey to the Center of the Earth.”