DEFA Indians and Karl May (Part 4 of 4)

DEFA Indians and Karl May 

Source: DIF© DEFA-Stiftung

Colea Rautu in "Apachen" (1973)

Before "Der Scout" ("The Scout") from 1983, Mitic's western roles – as in "Spur des Falken" ("Trail of the Falcon") and "Tödlicher Irrtum" ("Fatal Mistake") – were repeatedly those of heroes who resist exploitation and oppression at the hands of white usurpers. In the 1975 film "Blutsbrüder" ("Blood Brothers") he was backed up by the singer and DEFA star Dean Reed, who also played a frontiersman in the DEFA films "Sing, Cowboy, Sing" and "Kit & Co". As part of the socialist anti-imperialist program, the DEFA productions always had a different ideological thrust than Karl May's fantasies about the Christian chief Winnetou with his "almost Roman traits". But, just as in the West German productions, stereotypes flourished, drawing a clear-cut picture of good vs. evil. In the final years of the GDR Gojko Mitić played Karl May material one last time, portraying Bärenauge, the protagonist of the two-part East German miniseries from 1988, "Präriejäger in Mexiko" ("Prairie Hunters in Mexico"), based on May's novels "Benito Juarez" and "Trapper Geierschnabel". In a way, these productions foreshadow the further course of Gojko Mitić's career, when his complex relationship with the West German Indian star Winnetou reached a high point. After the DEFA was dissolved, Gojko Mitić succeeded Pierre Brice in the role of the Apache chieftain at the Karl May Festival in Bad Segeberg.