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A University Professor’s Evolution of Practical and Theoretical Preoccupation with Film Adaptations of Literary Works in Research and Teaching (An Epilogue)

I would like to conclude this epilogue with my reflections on the differences between the adaptation Osijek Sweet Osijek (2017) and Nothing Compares to Zurich! (2017). After many peripeteia with casting, I managed eventually to shoot enough scenes for two diverging adaptation versions which used the same core scenes shot in Osijek and differed in the tone of voice-over of the spirit of Gottfried Keller in the Central Library Zurich as well in the function of the main film song We want to go to Switzerland (“Wir wollen in die Schweiz verreisen”). In Osijek Sweet Osijek, Zurich and the whole Switzerland transform to a trap of exploitation, disappointment and humiliation, so that the two Osijek students of German return to their beloved home town and the Slavonian folk songs accompany sepia-toned scenes of the beauty of Baranja and the city of Osijek. In Nothing Compares to Zurich! I changed the tone of my voice for the spirit of Gottfried Keller who manipulates various people to immigrate to Switzerland. The song “We want to go to Switzerland” remains here the guiding line up to the end of the story about brain drain and human capital profits for Switzerland. Even the famous face of the main character of the film Professor Romulus geht in die Rente (2015) lives in Zurich: Antonio Matić pretends to be a Bosnian Osijek student singing German opera scores and Bosnian folk songs in the streets of Zurich! And the swans from the Zurich Lake contribute to the positive tone of this adaptation version. Practically, this film adaptation is an experiment, a manipulation of the film director, without a previous notice, kind of a subconscious surprise emerging all of a sudden, a post postproduction montage game version 2.0. I beg your pardon for that double game! Sorry! Hmmm, what to do? I show you finally several screenshot from both adaptations and say humbly: “That’s all folks!”

university professors, students, research, teaching, film adaptations of literary works

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