Das Schloß

THE CASTLE (2 outta 5 stars) I guess you movie is alright if you *really* need to see a dull, lifeless screen translation of Franz Kafka's prose. It always strikes me when I read passages from Kafka's "The Castle" that all the characters in it should have been played by The Marx Brothers. The endless circular dialogues and ridiculous bureaucracy... it is really funny stuff! But, of course, Kafka is a "serious" author and so, we get this "serious" film adaptation. It's not that terrible, I guess... there are a few well-done scenes... and Maximilian Schell does a fair job of portraying a newly-hired land surveyor who can't seem to gain admittance to "the castle" where he is supposed to report for work. It's all very soberly acted and directed... what it really needs is more of a Monty Python-esquire quality. Maybe Terry Gilliam needs to give this material a shot?

When did I see this film? As a new recruit in the IDF, January 1977. Before I even started basic training I was sent to an army Hebrew course to improve my Hebrew. One night the corporal informed us we would get to see a movie, "The Castle." As the movie unfolded in its incomprehensible complexity, most of the soldiers wanted to leave, but the corporal would not let us. So I had to see the entire movie, which has very little plot, and no sense at all.

Why didn't the young man simply leave when he found out how crazy the village was? Why does he insist on staying there? I would have run from this place as if the Hound of Hell was after me.

This is a TV movie, made at a time, when the "Theatre of the Absurd" still managed to entertain people. The TV people probably thought: "The story doesn't make any sense at all, but it is completely absurd. So we are good."

The story: A stranger comes into a village with secretive, hostile and bureaucracy obsessed residents. Everything turns out to be deceptions and lies. Or just utter nonsense. He doesn't achieve anything. Still he is hellbent on staying there.

Watching this screen adaption of Kafka's novel is like reading one of the absurdist plays by Eugène Ionesco. It's a pointless chore done for school. It is bleak, dull and every kind of meaning people attribute to it is completely arbitrary. But it is also a product of its time and not without value. It shows how not to do a screen adaption, especially if you want to create a work that can be enjoyed without knowledge of the source material. 4/10.

Franz Kafka died without finishing the book but that makes no difference; the story is never-ending. The whole story is about the efforts of a professional man, who has been hired to work in the castle, to actually get in. The bureaucracy in the adjacent village must be dealt with before he can enter but it is wholly without any ambition to succeed at anything. This is an essay on futility and frustration but it is totally engrossing. The film is similar in nature to Johnny Depp's Dead Man, except that he is faced with anarchy rather than bureaucracy.

It doesn't work. No. It definitely doesn't work as a film. It's pointless. I feel pretty messed around right now. Maximilian Schell did well. But that's it. There were two nice scenes. But that's it.

The film is creating its own reality just to deliver the right message. If you want to tell a story that delivers these messages it tries to deliver...then tell a better one!

The film is quite terrible. It never really starts and it's over before it comes to any relevant point. I didn't like it. Just watch it if you're really into Franz Kafka's story.

3/10 because it tries to deliver a great message but fails miserably.