Chingachgook, die große Schlange

The East German ‘Sauerkraut’ Western Chingachgook, the Great Snake is based on the ‘politically acceptable’ novel The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper. The film is situated in the period of the discovery (read: conquest) of the Wild West. This Western was shot on location in former Yugoslavia and stars the Serbian athlete Gojko Mitic as the Indian Chingachgook. It depicts redskins struggling against transcontinental conquerors. In that sense, the local white folks are not such bad guys and the natives are still lofty: pristine folk in pristine land. They are innocent but not naive and they suffer at the hands of the English and the French, but also from inter-tribal strife. Director Richard Groschopp dramatically points out that survival against an overbearing enemy requires firm unity and an ability to act in unison. Actually, Chingachgook, the Great Snake can be seen as a ‘manifesto’ made by the Eastern Bloc on the necessity of forming a bloc.

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