Heintje - Einmal wird die Sonne wieder scheinen

Don't remember if I had watched the movie. But the songs in the movie bring me back for 30 years, after a friend of mine forwarded the songs to a group chat.

Like other reviewers from China, we were all lived in a 'forbidden' country ruled by communist for a time when beautiful music is so rare, like ration foods that you couldn't choose.

Heintje's movie and songs like the fresh spring air breezing into China ...

It's a children's musical movie. Similiar style is "Sound of Music", of course, latter one was more well known and well made. :P (Interesting fact, apparently sound of music is not widely known in Austria). Except that there is no dancing and this movie is actually in German.

Plot: Teenager Heintje's mother died, father wrongly accused of financial fraud and arrested. Heintje moved in with his maternal grandpa, who was a rich/stingy man with bad temper and didn't like the marriage of Heintje's parents, and thus didn't care for Heintje. 90 minutes of comedy/singing/car-chasing later, justice served, ppl fell in love, stone cried...

I watched this when I was growing up in China when I was kid (80's). Now one of my childhood friends, who is depressed and become sentimental and nostalgic (listening to light FM now, yuck!), want me to find it for him because he think it is therapeutic. This is quite a task because we only know its chinese names. I searched chinese web site to get director's name "Han Hai-En-Lee-Chie", and guessed Heinrich ...

The reason I mention this is, I guess this movie made a kid recall it 20 years later, maybe it's actually good, or maybe that kid was a retard. :) For kid under 14, okay, maybe under 10 only.

I saw the movie when I was still a young kid (younger than Heintje in the movie) in China and honestly couldn't remember much other than it's a nice movie. But the song "Kleine Kinder, kleine Sorgen" from this movie was my favorite. So beautiful and pure, its rhythms always makes me happy. On my 9th birthday, my parents called the local radio station for the song as my birthday present - still the most memorable birthday present I've ever received. So many years had passed and I sometimes wish I am still the "kleine Kinder" that I used to be, with "kleine Sorgen". They really should make more beautiful, loving, non-violent movies for today's children. It seems that most people commenting on the movie are Chinese. Was it popular in Germany when it was released in the 70's?

In the west,this film may be easily neglected as time goes by.But amazingly,HEINTJE would definitely be crowned as one of the memorable western films on Chinese screen even from today's perspective.Although filmed in 1960s,the film wasn't available in red China until earlier 1980s.When the film was introduced,it was given a Chinese title HANDSOME BOY.

Actually,HEINTJE conforms with Chinese traditional values to great extend,such as parental and grand parental love,the theme of harmonious family,main character's righteous and courageous virtue.All of which seem pretty familiar and quite acceptable to Chinese point of view.What's more,the songs performed by little HEINTJE SIMONS also contributes a lot to the popularity of the film in China.

Without any exaggerating,the film is a household name among those middle-aged and well-educated. And Chinese versions of THE LAST ROSE IN SUMMER and LITTLE CHILD,LITTLE SORROW,TWO LITTLE STARS,BIRTHDAY SONG have become the classics.

From Chinese perspective,the film is 9 out of 10.

Having had grown up and lived in China through 1980's, I share the sentiment for the movie by several reviewers of the Chinese origin. I don't know a single person then who didn't love the handsome, caring, optimistic and courageous boy with a golden voice. For my daughter who grew up in the U.S. to study Chinese, I took some trouble to find the movie (dubbed in Chinese) and she loves it, too. We watched it together many times. Having seen so many great movies from the east and the west by now, I sometimes wonder if I love the movie out of nostalgia or its true value? The answer is always the latter.

Now onto the movie. In the movie, the boy, growing up with his widower father, runs the simple and happy household with love and humor. When the ill fate throws him into the house of his estranged, ill-temped and rich maternal grandfather, he melts the old man's heart after a series of unexpected events.