Pretend to be a Steppe Wolf. For some reason, this film adaptation is considered unsuccessful, but I like it. Good movie. It was taken before I first read the novel by G. Hesse. Without a novel, the cinema, perhaps, can not understand. But at least one line in the film is well conveyed - the dreams of a man experiencing a midlife crisis. There is also “disappointment in European culture.” You can save yourself by Bach and Mozart, but if in previous years too deeply immersed in the “symphonic tradition”, can help and a simple foxtrot. Actors for the main role were selected very successfully; Hermina is also a typical German woman, Pablo is probably like that, but Maria seemed too “dark”. The action of the film, of course, is markedly reduced, compared to the book, but does not distort its content.
A separate question, of course, about the worldview of the hero, about the attitude to socio-political events. Is it possible to hide from real life, pretending to be “steppe wolves” and dissolving, masquerading in the mirrors of magic theater, when real predators are already howling nearby, the Nazis have already smelled the taste of blood. The creators of the film version seem to be inclined to the option of inevitability of escapism. What an old, lonely Steppe Wolf can do. However, evil can overtake him in the middle of the carnival, in a room with a sign “Training Steppe Wolves”. I don't remember if she's in the movie.