"Karl Marx: Der deutsche Prophet", which means "The German Prophet", is a German german-language film from 2018 that is a mix of documentary and live action. It runs for 1.5 hours like most German small screen releases and this was directed by Christian Twente and written by Peter Hartl. They are both prolific documentary filmmakers here in my country and also both have worked in each other's profession if we are looking at this film here, especially Hartl in direction, so this was certainly a combined effort here as well. The one big name attached to the project (except Marx obviously) is Mario Adorf. He was already close to 90 when he appeared in here and of course he plays the title character in the live action sequences. That was really alright I'd say, but I like him as an actor anyway, so I am certainly a bit biased here. Nonetheless, the live action sequences did not impress me too much otherwise overall. I preferred the more informative parts and also interviews with historians about Marx, his life and his legacy. I guess they wanted to give it a lighter note and make it a film that is eaier accessible if we actually see the characters and people that are spoken about and I agree that it is always also a subjective choice, but the way they depicted it here and the path they took felt not too impressive honestly and I think without Adorf (or maybe with him too when it comes to people who don't appreciate him as much as I do), these scenes would have felt totally worthless. They were never really significant. The voice-overs were okay, but occasionally I also had the impression that these sequences took itself a bit too seriously while still feeling fictitious, which they were to a large extent obviously because these dialogs never took exactly place like this centuries ago, which was maybe the worst of it all. On other occasions, the scenes depicted there felt not relevant enough and too forgettable. So at both ends of the scale I felt they were mostly striking the wrong notes. Pity.
Another thing that bothered me there were also specific situations like when there is elaborated on the death of a young character and the impact it had on the title character. As said title character was still young himself at that point, many many decades before his death, I struggled with the idea that said death had an impact on him that sort of blocked him his entire life as they are implying here because let's be honest Marx did a lot later on in his life, even if most people will argue that it may not have been as brilliant as what he did early on. I cannot argue against that, but it is often the case that bright minds have their finest hour early on in their lives when their spirit and creativity are still at their most lucid. But blaming said death for that in Marx's specific case seems a bit far-fetched to me. There are two or three other moments like that and these are also one of the reasons why I would have preferred a full-on documentary take here, but like I said, it is maybe also subjective. At least they did not go 100% live action, then maybe I would have given two stars out of five only and not three. Anyway, if you want that, especially with focus on the younger years, you can always watch the movie with August Diehl that came out during roughly the same time, one year earlier I believe, and I think overall I prefer that one to this one here, but then I again I am a sucker for Diehl's works. Not saying this one here is bad or anything, it's just never as interesting or meaningful as it could have been and also as the subject of the story deserves. This also applies to the conflicted relationships with his beloved ones. They included those, but the elaboration was never on a level where I would really care for how things were between them and with a female character's final comment on Marx at the very end of the documentary (after his death already), it certainly did feel as if the movie was taking itself too seriously to that regard. It is never a convincing family drama. But it delivers enough in other areas I'd say for the overall outcome to be a success here, for example Marx's close collaboration with Engels, although I would have wished that they could include also more focus on their friendship. Oh well. I give this take on Karl Marx a thumbs-up and positive recommendation, albeit a cautiously positive one. Go see it if you llike Adorf or are interested in the subject in general. If neither is the case, then maybe skip it. I don't think it will sparkle your interest from zero.
Another thing that bothered me there were also specific situations like when there is elaborated on the death of a young character and the impact it had on the title character. As said title character was still young himself at that point, many many decades before his death, I struggled with the idea that said death had an impact on him that sort of blocked him his entire life as they are implying here because let's be honest Marx did a lot later on in his life, even if most people will argue that it may not have been as brilliant as what he did early on. I cannot argue against that, but it is often the case that bright minds have their finest hour early on in their lives when their spirit and creativity are still at their most lucid. But blaming said death for that in Marx's specific case seems a bit far-fetched to me. There are two or three other moments like that and these are also one of the reasons why I would have preferred a full-on documentary take here, but like I said, it is maybe also subjective. At least they did not go 100% live action, then maybe I would have given two stars out of five only and not three. Anyway, if you want that, especially with focus on the younger years, you can always watch the movie with August Diehl that came out during roughly the same time, one year earlier I believe, and I think overall I prefer that one to this one here, but then I again I am a sucker for Diehl's works. Not saying this one here is bad or anything, it's just never as interesting or meaningful as it could have been and also as the subject of the story deserves. This also applies to the conflicted relationships with his beloved ones. They included those, but the elaboration was never on a level where I would really care for how things were between them and with a female character's final comment on Marx at the very end of the documentary (after his death already), it certainly did feel as if the movie was taking itself too seriously to that regard. It is never a convincing family drama. But it delivers enough in other areas I'd say for the overall outcome to be a success here, for example Marx's close collaboration with Engels, although I would have wished that they could include also more focus on their friendship. Oh well. I give this take on Karl Marx a thumbs-up and positive recommendation, albeit a cautiously positive one. Go see it if you llike Adorf or are interested in the subject in general. If neither is the case, then maybe skip it. I don't think it will sparkle your interest from zero.
