''Lessons of a Dream'' (german: Der ganz große Traum) is a German

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Sebastian Grobler Sebastian may refer to: People * Sebastian (name), including a list of persons with the name Arts, entertainment, and media Films and television * ''Sebastian'' (1968 film), British spy film * ''Sebastian'' (1995 film), Swedish drama film ...

, loosely based on the life of German

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

pioneer

Konrad Koch Wilhelm Carl Johann Conrad Koch, commonly known as Konrad Koch (13 February 1846 – 13 April 1911) was a German teacher and football pioneer. Early life and career Koch was born on 13 February 1846 in Braunschweig, Duchy of Brunswick. After fi ...

in the late 19th-century. In the film, Koch is one of the first English teachers in the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

, in

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the Nor ...

. He introduces his students to the new sport of football, completely unknown outside of England at the time, to get them interested in English culture and the English language. Koch's liberal teaching methods upset his conservative colleagues, the student's parents, and local dignitaries.

Historical background

The real-life Konrad Koch was a teacher of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

, and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

in Braunschweig. He wrote the first German version of the rules of football and organized the arguably first ever match of football in Germany in 1874, between pupils of his school, the ''Martino-Katharineum''. However, unlike in the film, Koch's original German version of the rules of football, published in 1875, still closely resembled those of

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

. In addition, Koch was actually a conservative himself and did not get into trouble with the authorities.

External links

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References

2011 films 2010s German-language films Films shot in Braunschweig German association football films Films set in the 1870s Sports films based on actual events 2010s sports drama films 2011 drama films 2010s German films {{2010s-drama-film-stub