Swiss Review 1/2021

Swiss Review / February 2021 / No.1 20 Portrait Sven Schelker, in the centre of the shot, played the role of en- vironmental activist Bruno Manser on screen. Nick Kelesau, Elizabeth Ballang, Matthew Crowley, Da- vid Ka Shing Tse were the other main actors. Photo provided. STÉPHANE HERZOG Valentin Greutert, producer of the film “Paradise War – The story of Bruno Manser” finds himself in a confusing situation. His film, released in Switzerland at the end of 2019, was nominated by theHollywood Foreign Press Association for the Golden Glo- bes. There is bound to be a huge audi- ence at the ceremony, set for 28 Feb- ruary 2021. An award would get this biographical filmnoticed around the world. But, on the other hand, the producer fromBasel saw his film blo- cked in Germany and Austria at the beginning of November due to the lockdown. In Germany, this tale las- ting two hours and 20 minutes had sold 3,000 tickets in four days before the cinemas closed. In Switzerland, “Paradise War” has been watched by more than 200,000 viewers in the ci- nema and at home. The budget ran to 6million Swiss francs, setting this na- tional coproduction amongst the costliest films ever produced in Swit- zerland. “Paradise War” tells the story of the extraordinary life of adventurer and conservationist Bruno Manser, who was born in 1954 in Basel. The film covers the period stretching from his arrival in the Malaysian state of Sarawak in 1984 (“You’re go- ing to die in here”warns the canoeist who brings him to the middle of the forest) until his disappearance in 2000. At that time, the efforts of this conscientious objector, shepherd and alpinist to stop or slow the destruc- tion of theMalaysian forests had been in vain. The filmingwas an adventure in itself. A teamof 150 people lived in the middle of the jungle for three months. “We slept on the ground, on mats. Having to conduct the filming in a foreign language was also parti- cularly difficult,” explains Greutert. In 1992, the producer fromBasel met Bruno Manser when the environ- mental activist visited his school to Dying to save the forest, the adventure of Swiss hero Bruno Manser “Paradise War – The story of Bruno Manser” tells of the Swiss-born activist’s passion for the primary forests of Borneo and their inhabitants, the Penan. Filmed against an epic backdrop, the Swiss film could win an award at the Golden Globes.