lual

"Krabat" has been one of the classics of youth literature in Germany for almost 40 years and one wonders why nobody tried to make a movie out of it earlier. Actually, it is not that hard to answer this question since "Krabat" is a very grim and dark tale with some gruesome deaths, an ending that comes across as rather anticlimactic and above all an incredible amount of religious symbolism (even though the book is no sappy Christian novel) that would make it hard to market it. Parents would not go and see this movie with their kids and young people might not find it cool enough. Fortunately, the producers were smart enough to think of another target group: grown-ups who read the book in their youth and have been haunted by it ever since.

Some changes have been made. The symbolism is reduced, the role of the "Kantorka" is slightly expanded, which makes the showdown a little more exciting and Tonda's love to Worschula plays a bigger part than it does in the novel. Make no mistake, though, both women still have small roles. The story is shortened by one year (so that it now covers only two years instead of three which ultimately saves the life of one of the boys - and to those who only watched the movie but haven't read the book: It is not the guy you think it might be) and the story centers even more on Krabat than in the book, which means that all scenes that explain more about the master such as the sorcerer's duel and the trip to the Elector in Dresden were left out.

I don't mind these changes too much. While the trip to Dresden was in my opinion one of the most memorable scenes of the book I can understand why it had to go. There are some other minor changes which I won't go into. But even with the shortening of the story, Kreuzpaintner still had a lot left in his hands that he had to press into two hours. And I have to say that he does not entirely succeed. Kreuzpaintner does something Preußler does a lot in his book: He only hints at many things and hopes that the viewer will link the parts together. But Preußler had a much bigger story than Kreuzpaintner does and often this makes the movie feel rushed or incomplete. But still, the story is touching and gripping and in my opinion totally satisfying.

The cinematography is outstanding. The images are truly beautiful, and the aerial shots even allow the viewer to see the entire set. Incredible work has been done here. Now, in most big German productions there is one scene in which the director decides to go totally Hollywood and usually this ends in a disaster. The same thing unfortunately happens here when the boys get into a fight with some marauding soldiers. Kreuzpaintner tries to out-Scott Ridley Scott here and the picture is so distorted that not only can you barely see what is happening but it also really hurts the eyes. What makes this even worse is that this makes it look like they tried to cover up bad fighting stunts with these scenes even though I am sure that they were in fact done well.

The actors are mainly well cast. Brühl, Redl (especially Redl!), Stadlober all act well and make us forget the actor behind the role (Brühl and Redl succeed better than Stadlober) Hanno Koffler, whom I usually like a lot, does some over-acting which seems annoying at first, but since he plays Juro that might have been a deliberate choice. Unfortunately, David Kross is a little weak, but this seems to be the curse of title characters who, after all, are supposed to serve as models for identification. The guy I actually liked best was Moritz Grove, who plays Merten as thoughtful, caring and in the end almost tragic. All in all,it has to be said that the casting agents really did their job well in making these guys distinguishable, even though some of their parts are rather small.

While I liked the set design and the costumes, I was not too pleased about the make-up. Smeering some black paint on strategic places on the actors' faces so that they look dirty but still pretty gets on my nerves when it happens through an entire movie. It really looks fake after a while and when you get to scenes where the actors show their shaved armpits, you cannot help but laugh at this pseudo-historical mess.

I have to say, in spite of some criticism I really liked the movie and I will recommend it to everyone. To people who read the book it will bring back great childhood memories and others who have not read it will find the movie entertaining, thrilling and maybe even scary.

But just like the movie ends on a big "f--- you" to the audience I will end this review with my biggest gripe about the movie: Who on earth made the decision to put such a terrible song at the end of the movie? The picture has such an incredibly beautiful score and does everything to set the mood right and they actually decide to put some electro dance track over the credits!!!! This must be one of the worst choices of a film-promoting song in film history! The people behind this decision should really lower their heads in shame!

Once every few years, Bernd Eichinger feels the need to prove to everybody that he has the biggest dick in the German film industry. In order to do this, he refrains from making cheap stupid international movies like "Resident Evil" and dumb German comedies and makes a big movie that he calls important. After "Der Untergang" and "Das Parfum" we now get "Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex".

One really wonders who this movie was made for. People who don't know anything about the RAF will not understand most of what is going on. People who know some stuff about this will only find the things that they already know and experts on the topic will be horrified about the simplifications and elisions.

The movie looks great, as it should be expected. It really looks like it is from the era. All technical aspects are wonderful, the cinematography, the action, sound, effects. And the actors do an incredible job. Martina Gedeck and Johanna Wokalek stand out in this universally good cast as Ulrike Meinhof and Gudrun Ensslin.

Also, to be fair, it has to be said, that the beginning of the movie is really gripping and well done. The viewer gets to understand a lot about the feeling of the time and the intentions of the protagonists are well-explained.

But the whole thing goes downhill after a while. By the time Ulrike Meinhof joins the group and Andreas Baader breaks out of prison, we lose focus. Suddenly there are new members in almost every scene and none of them gets introduced properly (with the exception of Peter-Jürgen Boock). Certainly, not every character needs a back story, but it would have been essential to tell the audience at least how these recruits got to join the group in general.

By the time that Meinhof, Baader and Ensslin are imprisoned, we really don't care about the RAF any more. And this is mainly because we have no idea who these "2nd generation" people are. Even people who know about the RAF will wonder who this or that guy in each scene is supposed to be because only few of them are even mentioned by name. The assassinations of von Mirbach, Buback and Ponto are just checked off a list to get the story to completion. And the whole Schleyer-kidnapping as well as the attack on the "Landshut" which are supposed to serve as the climax of the movie have terrible timing and leave out so much important information.

But also the handling of characters of the "1st generation" is done poorly in parts. Raspe is basically absent from the movie until he gets taken in by the police, same with Meins, whose only purpose in the movie it is to get captured, force-fed and then die. Only these three scenes. Nothing more is seen of him! Neither Eichinger nor Edel really cared to explain or teach anything. The whole thing was just planned as a big production to show off 2/3 of the more well-known actors working in Germany in one movie. Even the guy who attempts to assassinate Rudi Dutschke gets played by a well known actor (Tom Schilling). What this movie would have needed is the kind of epilogue that Eichinger put at the end of "der Untergang" to show what happened to some characters and also to even explain who these characters were supposed to be.

So, we only have one more chance to find out. Since the movie is filled with well-known actors, reading the credits might help. No chance here. Except for the main characters no character name is mentioned in the credits, only the actors who showed up. To me, this is the ultimate proof that Eichinger didn't care about the characters at all, all he cared about was the actors he could squish into this movie.

There are other things that others will criticize, for example the way the victims are turned just into cardboard figures with no purpose other than getting assassinated, or the fact that the German government, which was very involved especially in the final act, is not present at all. I personally do not mind these things too much, because I understand that this is not the story the makers wanted to tell.

I only criticize the movie for what it is. A nice-looking, but unfortunately very hollow and confusing piece of work. Too bad. It was a great chance that was missed here.

Roger Ebert said of Andrew Lloyd Webber: "Whenever he finds one good tune, he starts rehearsing." Now, that may be a little harsh and exaggerated, but Ebert does have a point here. Webber tends to overuse sequences of particular songs and especially so in "The Phantom of the Opera".

I think there is certainly more than one good song in "Phantom", but most of the good songs are in the first half. After "Masquerade", which on stage opens the second act and is played after a little over half the movie is over, there are only 2 or three really original songs following (which are all weaker songs of the musical), the rest is just patchwork from other songs and sequences. You can't call this "Leitmotiv" either, because Webber uses theses tunes almost randomly. Really, it gets rather boring after a while.

The second half is a big problem in the production anyway. The story basically falls apart. Everything repeats itself, the focus is lost and basically, it doesn't make sense either.

Many people say that the problem is the Phantom, which is not really scary in Webber's piece. I think the problem lies rather in the character of Christine. Her relationship with the "Angel of Music" is naive and she comes across as rather bland and dumb. Also, while she is fascinated by the Phantom, she is never at all in love with him. From the beginning she falls for Raoul for motives which are also rather flat. We can never really believe that she loves Raoul (who is a boring character anyway and while Patrick Wilson plays him well, his hairdo in the movie really only underlines the impression of the spoiled vain brat that we have perceived from the get-go). So, there is no believable love-story to Raoul and no love for the Phantom either. Therefore, while Christine seems nice to the viewer, we never really get involved with her emotionally. The "love" the Phantom feels for Christine at times rather comes across as desire but still, it is the most believable emotion in the piece.

All of these are problems of the source material. But since Joel Schumacher has adapted the musical almost slavishly faithfully they need to be addressed.

The actors all do a good job, some of them even outstanding. Emmy Rossum's singing is incredible and Minnie Driver, Simon Callow and Chiaran Hinds add a much needed comic relief. In fact, it is these three latter characters who make the movie bearable. While the movie does look good it still looks far too serious. This heavy-handedness pulls the movie down quite a lot. Its OK that most of the movie looks fake or stagy but it is also filmed in way as if this musical were high art. I am sure that even die-hard fans of "PotO" will agree that while it is nice entertainment, it is nothing more than entertainment. A little more lightness, maybe even a hint of irony would really have helped here. But so, we only have Driver, Callow and Hinds to tell us that it actually is OK to laugh sometimes.

What really doesn't work are the scenes set in 1919. Apart from the opening and possibly the ending they really don't serve any point at all other than giving us a break from the singing. While that is a noble effort, a little dialog should have been included instead of just having to look at a tired old man for roughly a minute. Also, the rose in the last scene is really distracting. During the entire movie, Schumacher has been trying to make the Phantom human and real (which the stage production never does) and suddenly we are supposed to believe that this character is immortal? BIG mistake here.

You probably wouldn't guess it from this review, but I do kind of like the movie. I like looking at it, I like the actors, I enjoy many of the songs. But there is not a single moment in this movie where one is not aware of its weaknesses. We are never really pulled in. We stand by watching, listening and maybe enjoying it, but at no time do we feel like we are part of the action.

Fans of the stage production will probably love this movie and I am happy for them (except for those who keep crying that they want Michael Crawford back who hasn't played the role for about 20 years). But I don't think it is for anyone else. There are musicals which I consider to be watchable for people who do not like musicals. THIS movie is definitely NOT one of them.