"Am Siel" or "By the Dike Sluice" is a West German German-language documentary short film from 1962, so this one is already easily over half a century old. It is the first filmmaking effort by director Peter Nestler and he was in his mid-20s when he made it. Still it is a contender for his most known work today. He is also a co-writer here. It runs for 13 minutes only and the narrator is Robert Wolfgang Schnell and don't worry he really isn't a famous actor. But nonetheless he did a good job here voicing the title character if you want to call it like that. The contents and voice work fit the bleakness of the entire thing, but honestly that's the only accurate approach given the subject. Now what is a "Siel". I am sure many Germans don't even know exactly, even if the definitely have come across the word before. But it is okay. You don't need to know to appreciate the film and its tone. In my opinion what I heard during this short film was more memorable than what I saw and I quite liked the audible side. The poem is poetic, but never pretentious and that is something many filmmakers, writers in particular, have tried and failed. But this one here is a success. I recommend checking it out and you know where to find it, even if it's for Germans mostly as I'd imagine it to be pretty damn (no pun intended!) challenging to translate it without losing the meaning in translation, even without the rhymes. All in all, it's certainly a thumbs-up from me.
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