Der junge Häuptling Winnetou

I see that a lot of people gave this movie low ratings. No idea why because this is a fun old school adventure movie for children. Our kids (5 and 8 years old) both liked the story a lot and found it interesting to follow the adventures of the child actors.

The movie is about friendship and not about historical accuracy.

Of course it feels like a silly comedy for grown ups that want to watch something sophisticated but that does not mean that it isn't well suited for its target audience, which clearly is young kids. The whole purpose of children's movies is for them to be able to enter a fantasy world, not to worry about cultural appropriation or some other fancy idea that's currently en vogue.

This is quite a trip down the memory lane: way back in the '60s of last century a series of movies plied their way through the Soviet bloc, in which Winnetou was the noble & brave & wise Apache chief & warrior. His equally impressive sidekick, a white cowboy going by the quaint ridiculous moniker as Old Shatterhand (he was famed for his one-punch K. O. ability), was played by an American actor Lex Barker, while Winnetou was played by a French actor Pierre Brice. The movies were made by an East German production company, shot mostly in Yugoslav locations (not unlike Sergio Leone's spaghetti Western shot in Spain & Sicily). Dialog tracks were dubbed in German, but for local distribution in specific Eastern Bloc countries they got subtitled. The movies and the main characters were based on a series of books written in the late XiX c. By one Karol May, a German pulp writer who had written them mostly while dodging the law, as he was quite a scam artist most of his life. The movies (and the books which were widely available in translations throughout the Soviet Bloc) were a welcome - though quite silly - entertainment fodder in the region where genuine Westerns from America were rarely allowed for distribution, for both monetary and ideological reasons. It was quite funny listening to dialogs between characters spoken in German, and watching the secondary characters (the Apache tribesmen) played by swarthy Serbs and Macedonians.

No pun intended - it is tough to understand certain things ... and making this through the eyes of kids ... and for kids overall probably was a good decision. And yet some people still might not like it - and they have different reasons for sure .... some think about cultural appropriation ... or cancelling ... some may think that this infringes on their childhood (memories) ... whatever side you may be ... try to see this with an open mind.

Still it never really captures what made the original movies work ... the actors do and try their all, but the charm is tough (dare I say impossible?) to recreate ... if you are not offended by "cowboys" and "indians" (yes native Americans - not that you get any here, father figure being the brillant Mehmet, German Turkish descent) ... you may be able to enjoy this more than others for sure. Not many surprises here.

I am really sorry to say that as a German, but the German movie industry is further on its way to make ridiculous, infantil movies only. It is NOT funny to wear ridiculous closes in a movie. It is NOT funny to speak in a silly way in a movie. It is NOT funny to have a ridicolous haircut in a movie. It is neither funny nor helpful to exaggerate all acting, as there were only completely stupid people in the audience. German film industry considers its audience as infantil and too stupid to understand even easiest plots. They consider children not to be able to watch an at least little bit demanding movie. I feel mocked by these directors, producers and actors.

I was with my family in the cinema. Der junge Häuptling Winnetou!

We all like this movie so much, wonderful - just wonderful. Full house too.

I cannot understand all the haters (culture cancel people), they give this movie only one stars - Feeling does it. And nobody can find rassismus in " der junge Häuptling Winnetou". Oh my god!!! The Actors are so cool, the story is okay and the landscape is a eyecatcher. Mika Ullritz plays the youg Winnetou very well and also regisseur Mike Marzuk (Five Friends) have done a good job.

All in all, der junge Häuptling Winnetou is good enough for young and old people - wnet to the cinema and enjoy it.