An innovative production from the world-renowned filmmaker and passionate naturalist Heinz Sielmann, Woodpecker (Zimmerleute des Waldes) is an intriguing celebration of these territorial birds known for their distinctive knocking.
The film offers three excerpts from the life of a working blind person. It shows in particular the extent to which the guide dog can replace the blind person's lack of sight and how this results in a relationship of loyalty between man and animal of rare intimacy.
Various amphibious pond dwellers, including grass frogs, tree frogs, common toads and other amphibians are shown moving around, feeding, mating, fertilizing and evolving. Also on display are natterjack and midwife toads, yellow-bellied toads and water frogs.
The film shows the traffic behavior of children between the ages of three and six. With the help of their parents, they are systematically prepared for the demands of urban traffic in different age groups. In most cases, their independence in the trained situations is then tested.
At midnight, two elves help a pair of shoemakers in distress by making shoes. They make it a condition that they are not watched. When the cobblers do it anyway and then send them the matching clothes, they stop working but continue to help the cobblers.
Rosita Hernandez, a nine-year-old Indio girl, tells about the everyday life of her family living in the the desert plain between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, about 300 km south of Lima. Specific social and economic problems as well as ways of coping with them become visible.
Two boys put together a colorful film from pictures they have painted themselves that recounts the fantastic story of an adventurous journey. From their hometown, they go out to the open sea, to the depths of the ocean, to the jungle, to the USA, and finally to the moon in a rocket, and from there...