Ula Stöckl - The Little Lion And The Big Ones

Manfred takes his nephew, Martin, on a business trip to Rome. They stay with Manfred's brother Georg, who lives in Rome. On the way there Manfred and Martin meet Lilo, a girl who is also on her way to Rome.

The Film

An 11-year-old boy had learnt within his family circle that it is acceptable to express yourself freely. Outside of this familiar world it becomes clear that his upbringing has made it very difficult for him to be understood by other people. In other words he has the choice of either conquering the whole world or constantly being the underdog. For example, Martin has no respect for culture or education. And he doesn't let himself be intimidated by adults on this point. It doesn't impress him that they know all about Raphael and church windows. Unashamed, he compares everything, which he sees and hears with his heroes Asterix and Obelix, who had also once been to Rome.

When Manfred talks of Romeo and Juliet, Martin mentions Falbala, Obelix's great love, who was given a menhir (big rock) as a present. Martin also has no idea about the obligation of expressing gratitude. Of course he thinks it's nice that on his first evening in Rome his uncle Georg gives him books, yoyos, balloons, ice cream and goodness knows what else, without him having asked for it, and because, as his uncle puts it "it is his first time in Rome and it should be an unforgettable experience." Uncle Georg wants to erect a monument to himself in Martin's heart. A monument, which Martin will be able to walk by or stop at in thankfulness when he next travels to Rome. In this way he is planning the future to come. You can put it like this: the 2 men want to win Martin over and therefore do everything they can for him. The more they do for him, the more Martin distances himself from them, because he feels threatened and needs air.
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This coming up for air however is interpreted by the adults as being cheeky, aggressive, ungrateful and a sign of having been badly brought up. Added to this is the problem that Martin is very attractive. Women love him and instinctively take his side when he has problems with the 2 men. The men see this as competition and therefore try to demonstrate their knowledge, their strength, and their independence. 11-year-old Martin is in the hands of the 2 men: materially, because he has no money of his own; physically, because they are in charge of him; emotionally, because children in our society have to earn our love and must constantly prove to adults that they are "worth" being the "object" of such an investment of time, not to mention waste of time. In the child / adult relationship love evidently becomes a bargaining tool. This is much clearer here than in relationships between 2 adults because the child is in the position of owing so much more. He has nothing, other than his affection, which he can give or take away.
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The patriarchs who look after Martin were also once children who owed everything to the adults who surrounded them. And maybe they too were once as radical as Martin in their behavior towards the adults. In the past this would have been resolved by authority. Today most enlightened adults are afraid to be openly authoritarian, even though they actually are. That means that their liberal, artificially anti-authoritarian behavior is an attitude, which in practice is a torment to young people, because it constantly goes against their own feelings. The result of this is envy. Martin becomes an irritation for the adult men. Suddenly he feels called to not make such a show of himself and to behave at least a little bit more diplomatically. But that is exactly what Martin can't do. For him being diplomatic means being dishonest. That means that he enters into a fight which he has no hope of winning. It is however the patriarchs who carry responsi- bility for the outbreak of the fight in the first place.
Ula Stöckl
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Press

01: Ula Stöckl tells the tale of Martin's trip to Rome, a trip that takes him neither to the Via Appia (Asterix!) nor to the ice-cream parlor, in a tone, which is relaxed, sensitive and at times deeply comic. She hides critical points in the film, about a little man not allowed to follow his expectations or mistakes, like traps.
Ingrid Seidenfaden, Münchener Merkur, 19.07.1973
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02: Ula Stöckl has succeeded in directing the film from the perspective of an 11-year-old. The talk and chitchat of the adults is therefore superficial and completely unimportant for the child: Rome becomes a jigsaw of details and ornaments which only a child would be able to see.
gesta, Stuttgarter Zeitung, 19.07.1973
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03: It is one of the unconscious norms of our central European society of stress and achievement that whilst traveling adults vent their anger out on children, whilst blowing hot and cold with chumminess one minute and authoritarian complaints the next. Ula Stöckl shows this exertion of power in the story of a 12-year-old on holiday in Rome.
Ponkie, Abendzeitung München, 19.07.1973
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The Film

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