So yesterday, we leave the library in
Winterthur square as usual on a Saturday and, as usual the girls race
each other to climb on the head of the amazingly surreal beast bench in the church square but there is a large man sitting in the way. He graciously moves to
one side as the girls clamber up and when I thank him he tells me
with a lovely big smile that the bench is actually modelled on the
Never-ending Story. And despite this being a big favourite film of
mine when I was originally entranced by it in 1984 at the tender age
of 11, I never made the connection.
I didn't even realise that The
NeverEnding Story (Die unendliche Geschichte) is a German made film.
Indeed, it was made in 1984 as a German epic fantasy film (at the
time of its release, the most expensive film produced outside the USA
or the USSR) and directed and co-written by Wolfgang Petersen (his
first English-language film) It is based on the novel of the same
name written by Michael Ende, a German writer of fantasy and fiction.
It's a great story for little people,
featuring Bastian Bux, a quiet boy who loves to read and is accosted
by bullies on his way to school. He hides in a bookstore,
interrupting the grumpy bookseller, Mr. Koreander. Bastian asks about
the book Mr. Koreander is reading but he warns him it is 'not safe.'
Nevertheless, Bastian 'borrows' the book, leaving a note promising to
return it, and races towards school and when he realises he is late
for a maths test. hides in the school's attic and begins reading The
Neverending Story.
The book describes the fantasy world of
Fantasia which is being threatened by a force called 'The Nothing,' a
void of darkness that consumes everything. The Childlike Empress, who
rules over Fantasia from the Ivory Tower, has fallen ill due to the
Nothing, and she has summoned Atreyu, a young warrior from the Plains
People to discover the means to end the Nothing. To protect and guide
him. Atreyu is given AURYN, a medallion which represents eternity in
an infinite snake design (the original prop is now owned by Steven
Spielberg) and is helped by the Luck Dragon Falkar (who also sorts
out Bastian's bullies at the end)
And every week for the last year since
we moved to Switzerland, the girls have been clambouring onto the
head of Falkar, appropriately, as Atreyu does in the film, which thrusts out into the world, full of magical potential. And
the big snake with a crown which wraps around over Falkar
protectively is Auryn, And the rest of the bench is infact a
never-ending story. And it took all this time to realise. Thank you
Mr Winterthur man for enlightening us!
