The production of a second part of “The Shoe of Manitu” shows that its inventor and leading actor Michael “Bully” Herbig is either a madman – or driven by the idea of showing everyone what is still possible with humor.
In 2001, the creator of “Bullyparade” had a mega hit with the original film. The Winnetou parody occupied cinemas for months and is considered one of the most successful German films of all time. The film’s recipe for success was subsequently explained in countless feuilleton articles, sometimes with a wrinkled nose, sometimes with respect for Bully’s folk comedic nose. For the Germans, the Western has always been a highly romanticized area of kitsch and not a reflection of social processes in the guise of history.
So the jokes about grim or mentally limited natives also fit into the picture. They were no more objected to in the public debate about the film (back then on Monday in the office and not just on Twitter) than were the cowboy killer commandos who acted with the fury of German bureaucrats. And then Herbig gave his joke trio a prosecco-foaming queer twist, which at the time could be read as an opening up of the conservative macho film genre that negated all homosexual tendencies, but is now understood as an attempt to encourage the gay and lesbian community with the help of plush clichés to steep through the cocoa.
Winnetou has become a trigger word
So one wonders what “The Canoe of Manitu”, as the sequel is supposed to be called, wants to bring back to the cinema in 2025 that hasn’t already been pushed into the can by the zeitgeist. You’d have to live in a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere to not have noticed the loud discussions about Karl May, Winnetou, Indian games in daycare and the general discourse about cultural appropriation.
Regardless of the fact that perhaps the Germans’ favorite writer has already been criticized in previous decades and is perhaps no longer read by younger people today (not because there is anything more exciting, but because his topics no longer mean anything to young people), it is on the back A German cultural icon is simply a socio-political conflict that, due to its academic nature, means nothing to some filmgoers of the time. But it is now finding favor with a larger segment of the population, even in its trivialized, highly sensitive form. So will Bully stand up this time?
On the talk show “3 after 9” he said about “The Shoe of Manitu”: “I made the film 22 years ago and it was a parody of films that were in the cinema 60 years ago. The comedy police have become so strict.” His fairytale-like film is more about the realization of dreams and less about an assessment of social realities.
Bully has also become a different person
Nothing is known about the sequel beyond the title and the obvious main cast. Unlike back then, Herbig is one of the best-known popcorn film directors in the country and also one of the most accomplished in terms of his choice of subjects. “Manitu’s Shoe” also gained its appeal at the turn of the millennium from its cheeky, subversive attitude of using television to attack the shaky Hollywood cinema. Or Germany’s inability to at least partially copy it. This chutzpah is no longer available to Bully, so the fear of uninhibited humor, like the one that honestly comes into play in “The Shoe of Manitu” – albeit with a good sense of honest slapstick craftsmanship – is completely unjustified.
I bet “The Canoe of Manitou” is not made in the spirit of an offended Gottschalk that you are no longer allowed to say publicly what you leave at the breakfast table at home. Rather, the diplomatic bully, who not for nothing plays the amused but also pedantic referee in the Amazon hit format “LOL” and not some sharp-tongued comedy demon like Ricky Gervais, is more likely to take on the challenge of finding an audience of millions once again. This is no longer possible today with humor arrows randomly shot into the thicket.
If he has recognized the signs of the times, then perhaps his film will make fun of the seriousness of the debate about cultural and social identities. Because that is also the job of comedy: to hold up a mirror to society. In the end, the best jokes in “Manitu 2” will be ones that laugh at the balancing act of making jokes without hurting people.