Terra X – Race for the World, ZDF

A major European public broadcaster has just overhauled its entire programming and website. This prompted me to watch a brand new film production non-stop in six 45-minute episodes. So, I sat down in front of my laptop – no, not to stream unlimited films and TV shows like on Netflix – but just to watch the Second German Television (ZDF) in Mainz, Germany.

What really interested me was the claim of public television in Europe, and especially in Germany (in Portugal, this is RTP, and in England the BBC), to stream informative and exciting programming in competition with private providers. I wondered whether they could manage that? And, if so, how do they do it? And, lo and behold, I discovered that ZDF has made a completely new remake of a Jules Verne classic.

For the viewer, the story begins with a fast-moving journey: crossing over the whole of South America in just over five hours of film, we discover a continent, in a journey that supposedly takes 42 days. From the Amazon region in Peru to the end of the world, the southernmost point in Argentina, five teams embark on an incredible challenge in a unique race – 12,000 kilometres and six weeks, in which flying is forbidden. It will be the journey of a lifetime – without mobile phones and on a very small budget.

The film is not a feature film, but reality. The participants have to reach five checkpoints on their route. Breathtaking moments await at each stage, beautifully filmed. Jobs (e.g. working for a day in a salt mine, at a fish market or in a restaurant) allow the participants to supplement their travel budget. Who can make it to the finishing line in this challenging race? Physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting…

The first of the five teams to reach the end of the world will win 25,000 euros. The journey begins for everyone in Pucallpa, a fast-growing town in the Peruvian rainforest on the Rio Ucayali, one of two sources of the Amazon. Dania (49) and Mario (47), a married couple from the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, are taking part in the race. Brothers Timo and Markus (38, twins) from Swabia (Baden-Württemberg) are involved in the adventure, too. Jill (41) and her son Jaimie (21) from Hamburg also feel mentally strong enough to want to win the challenge in South America. Lykka (23) and Carlo (24), two interior design students from East Westphalia, who are friends, make up the fourth team. The journey is a real challenge for Carlo. After having his right leg amputated following cancer treatment, he is unable to walk and uses a prosthesis to get around. ‘I want to lead a normal life (…),’ he emphasises. In the fifth team, best friends Lile (27) and Dilara (27) are travelling from Cologne. They are the children of migrants.

The commentator says: “It’s almost time. The female mayor of Pucallpa explains the rules of the game…” Then it starts. The teams are equipped only with maps, travel guides with predetermined jobs and high spots, GPS trackers for their own safety, and bulging rucksacks. Chains made from beads of Peruvian seeds are intended to protect the participants from harm. Everyone receives an envelope with useful information. Only now do the ten adventurers learn the exact destination of their journey: Uschuaya in Argentina, near Tierra del Fuego on the Strait of Magellan. The journey begins by tuk-tuk, bus and taxi and continues by train and bus to the end of the world. The six episodes of the film gain their suspense from the fact that the five teams of two undertake this journey in competition with each other and the story is recounted in the style of Jules Verne. Sometimes one team is ahead, sometimes another. They all pass the five checkpoints in Peru, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. Then the first team breaks down and is eliminated, followed by the second team. In the end, three teams remain in the race and it turns into something like a sporting competition. The participants have to cover the last stretch by canoe against the wind and current to reach the very last checkpoint and, lo and behold, the team from East Westphalia, Lykka and Carlo, the two students and lovers, win the jackpot. However, there is one small secret to this story. The surprise at the end is better told exclusively in the film itself. Because there is a really happy ending that lets all the participants win. Because where there is a winner, the others don’t necessarily have to be the losers, do they?

https://www.zdf.de/play/shows/terra-x-wettlauf-um-die-welt-102/folge1-148

Camera: Mohammed Alzamel and ten other cameramen and women

Director: Alexandra Vierbaum and five other filmmakers

ZDF Editors: Johanes Geiger, Torsten Haas, Daniel Nemetschek

A total of six episodes, each 45 minutes long in German, unfortunately there are no subtitles available yet…

Rating: must see because it’s well worth watching.