Der Mann aus dem Eis (2017)

Der Mann aus dem Eis: Directed by Felix Randau. With Jürgen Vogel, André Hennicke, Susanne Wuest, Sabin Tambrea. The Ötztal Alps, more than 5300 years ago. A Neolithic clan has settled near a creek. It is their leader Kelab’s responsibility to be the keeper of the group’s holy shrine Tineka. While Kelab is hunting, the settlement is attacked.

“Not a bad movie, u0026quot;Der Mann aus dem Eisu0026quot; gets weighed down by its u0026quot;plotu0026quot; which concentrates on Ötziu0026#39;s violent death and the days before, creating a murder and revenge story with lots of violence but no levity at all.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe movie gets plus points for trying to get its history right; I liked how it highlights the fact that even then, in the late stone- / early bronze age, humankind was already far removed from the nature it still depended upon. A good idea in this respect were some rituals, plus of course the storyu0026#39;s MacGuffin, an obsidian shard used for rituals which is kept in a pretty wooden box.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOn the minus side, the amount of violence was maybe historically accurate but if you already go the length of portraying a stone age society halfway correctly (including made-up speech), you might as well include the nicer aspects of human life. A few tender looks and embraces during the first five minutes is all we get.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFrom the technical POV, the production is OK, out of their limited budget they got everything which could be expected and then some – the sets were fine, the costumes great, casting and acting good (nice lengthy cameo by Franco Nero) and of course the spectacular outdoor locations are an asset. Yet in many instances the camera-work stays rather pedestrian, so while the story shares some genes with u0026quot;The Revenantu0026quot;, the photography is of lower quality (no big deal, Lubezki is a genius and no mistake). Thereu0026#39;s only two scenes where the pictures really take flight – one chase along a ridge filmed with a drone or cable-camera against spectacular backdrops, really vertigo-inducing that one – and one lengthy sequence where the hero is trapped in a crevasse below the glacier. Both scenes only emphasize that there was a better movie somewhere but it got buried under a too-simple and violent plot.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRecommended all the same, especially for the realistic portrayal of those early societies.”