The Searchers of the Grail [Blu-ray]

Produktbeschreibung Was haben Adolf Hitler, Harrison Ford und Plácido Domingo gemeinsam? Alle drei wollten den Heiligen Gral finden, den Becher, aus dem Jesus Christus zum letzten Abendmahl trank und der sein Blut auffing als er am Kreuz hing. Hitler identifizierte sich gar mit Parsifal, dem Grals-Sucher schlechthin. Harrison Ford lieferte sich als Indiana Jones in „Indiana Jones und der letzte Kreuzzug“ mit den deutschen Nationalsozialisten ein erbittertes Rennen um den Becher. Und Plácido Domingo gilt als einer der besten Interpreten aller Zeiten von Wagners „Parsifal“. Richard Wagners Oper und die drei Männer treffen sich nun in „The Searchers of the Grail“, einem grandiosen Dokumentarfilm von Tony Palmer. Ausgehend von einer „Parsifal“-Inszenierung mit Plácido Domingo in der Titelrolle, Violetta Urmana als Kundry, Nikolai Putilin als Klingsor und Matti Salminen als Gurnemanz führt der Film in die Gärten der Villa Rufolo in Ravello, Italien, einer wichtigen Inspirationsquelle für Wagners Schaffen, auf die Bühne in Bayreuth zu einem seltenen Interview mit Wolfgang Wagner, dem Enkelsohn des Komponisten und schließlich nach Hollywood zu Steven Spielbergs „Indiana Jones“. Auf eindrucksvolle Weise verwebt Palmer Dokumentation und Fiktion mit der immerwährenden Faszination von dem Mythos um den Heiligen Gral. Rezension What do Adolf Hitler, Harrison Ford and Plácido Domingo have in common? All three of them wanted to find the Holy Grail, the cup from which Jesus Christ drank at the Last Supper, and which subsequently collected His blood as He bled on the Cross. The Grail was said to have brought to Britain by Joseph of Arimathea and the search for it became the principal quest of the knights of King Arthur. It first appears in a written text in Chrétien de Troyes's Old French verse romance, the Conte del Graal in 1180. Many others have since been inspired by the story, including 19th Century authors Scott and Tennyson as well as Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of artists and Monty Python. Hitler, the most dangerous dictator of all time, identified himself with Parsifal, on his quest for the Holy Grail. Harrison Ford, alias Indiana Jones, engages in a fierce race for the cup with the German Nazis in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. And Plácido Domingo is considered to be one of the best performers ever of Richard Wagner's Parsifal, a mystical vision first conceived by the composer in 1857 but not finished until twenty-five years later as his last completed opera, first seen at the second Bayreuth Festival in 1882. This Wagnerian opera and the three men mentioned meet in director Tony Palmer's intriguing documentary, The Searchers of the Grail, which features in this Blu-ray release. Starting with a Parsifal production starring Plácido Domingo in the title role, Violetta Urmana as Kundry, Nikolai Putilin as Klingsor and Matti Salminen as Gurnemanz, the film takes us to the gardens of the Villa Rufolo in Ravello, Italy, which had been a principal source of inspiration for Wagner; on to the actual stage in Bayreuth for a rare interview with Wolfgang Wagner, the composer's grandson; and finally to Hollywood and Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones. Palmer impressively weaves together documentary, fiction and the everlasting spell of the myth of the Holy Grail - one of the most enduring in Western European literature and art. --New Classics, Aug'16