"Der Mann aus dem Eis" or "Iceman" is a German 95-minute movie from 2017, a very recent theatrical release, and the newest effort by writer and director Felix Randau and actually his first directorial effort in a decade if IMDb is right, his 3rd full feature film in total and I think this has the potential to become his most known to date. First of all, it needs to be said that you can watch this one no matter where you are from because it includes spoken language only in the first 25 minutes or so and none at all afterward and this spoken stuff early on is in an old extinct language that you are not supposed to understand, don't need to understand in order to understand what is going on. It was a nice idea in fact, but it was almost destroyed by the decision to explain that right away in written text at the moment the film starts. It is a creative decision. No need for justifications. If people complain early on that they don't understand what's going on and where the subtitles are, then let them leave the room and theater. They won't be missed. But no worries, like I said earlier: It's not even the first third of the entire film.
The main character here is played by Jürgen Vogel, one of Germany's most known actors these days and he is really having a strong year. His turn as Knecht Ruprecht in another recent release is already top-notch and so is this one here and we see him as a very hairy and bearded man in both these recent films. In general I would say that the more physical a role is the better it is for him and as this one here is almost 100% physical, he really makes it work magnificently. Took me a while to really get into this one, but when I finally did, then it was a pretty captivating watch. Hennicke and Wuest are decent too with what they were given I would say. Now as for the contents finally: This is the story of a man who lived roughly 5,000 years ago and whose body was found frozen deep into the ice not too long ago, which made it such a spectacular find because of how well-conserved it was. So this film is the story of an actually existing person, even if it is entirely fictitious as we know nothing about him really other than very vaguely how he must have died, which means that the only thing Randau had to make sure that if he includes the death, then he must be somewhere up in the snow or mountainside or anything.
As for the title of my review, this film reminded me a lot of "The Revenant", the film that got AGI and LdC Oscar wins. Okay it plays in a different country, different time (way earlier) and includes different languages, but the looks were really similar in terms of sets, cinematography, the big fur costumes and also story-wise a bit as the main character was on a ruthless path of revenge. And it was an okay watch I guess. There weren't too many weaknesses here, one would maybe be the inclusion (the second time) of the guy who he saves from his antagonists, but also that was nothing serious, just a bit random to be honest. It absolutely needs to be stated that this is not a nature documentary or little snowy fantasy/history film for families during the holidays. This is a really bloody and brutal movie that is not scared of graphic depictions of murder (on many occasions), rape and other pretty severe stuff. Maybe somebody should have told the kids in my viewing too (how were they even allowed in there, there's no way they could have been old enough is there? What is the age restriction here), so they would not have left the film at the end with a mix of being genuinely bored and genuinely shocked. Okay what else? As there is so little talking in here, major focus is on the score and sound effects of course and I can see the movie score some awards attention in these areas (no pun intended), even if the music was over the top missing the right notes on 2-3 occasions. Still these are the areas as well as Vogel in the lead where I can see the film getting in at the German Film Awards for example. Overall, I give this one a thumbs-up. One of the most different German films from this year, I recommend checking it out, even if this is definitely not a movie for everybody.
The main character here is played by Jürgen Vogel, one of Germany's most known actors these days and he is really having a strong year. His turn as Knecht Ruprecht in another recent release is already top-notch and so is this one here and we see him as a very hairy and bearded man in both these recent films. In general I would say that the more physical a role is the better it is for him and as this one here is almost 100% physical, he really makes it work magnificently. Took me a while to really get into this one, but when I finally did, then it was a pretty captivating watch. Hennicke and Wuest are decent too with what they were given I would say. Now as for the contents finally: This is the story of a man who lived roughly 5,000 years ago and whose body was found frozen deep into the ice not too long ago, which made it such a spectacular find because of how well-conserved it was. So this film is the story of an actually existing person, even if it is entirely fictitious as we know nothing about him really other than very vaguely how he must have died, which means that the only thing Randau had to make sure that if he includes the death, then he must be somewhere up in the snow or mountainside or anything.
As for the title of my review, this film reminded me a lot of "The Revenant", the film that got AGI and LdC Oscar wins. Okay it plays in a different country, different time (way earlier) and includes different languages, but the looks were really similar in terms of sets, cinematography, the big fur costumes and also story-wise a bit as the main character was on a ruthless path of revenge. And it was an okay watch I guess. There weren't too many weaknesses here, one would maybe be the inclusion (the second time) of the guy who he saves from his antagonists, but also that was nothing serious, just a bit random to be honest. It absolutely needs to be stated that this is not a nature documentary or little snowy fantasy/history film for families during the holidays. This is a really bloody and brutal movie that is not scared of graphic depictions of murder (on many occasions), rape and other pretty severe stuff. Maybe somebody should have told the kids in my viewing too (how were they even allowed in there, there's no way they could have been old enough is there? What is the age restriction here), so they would not have left the film at the end with a mix of being genuinely bored and genuinely shocked. Okay what else? As there is so little talking in here, major focus is on the score and sound effects of course and I can see the movie score some awards attention in these areas (no pun intended), even if the music was over the top missing the right notes on 2-3 occasions. Still these are the areas as well as Vogel in the lead where I can see the film getting in at the German Film Awards for example. Overall, I give this one a thumbs-up. One of the most different German films from this year, I recommend checking it out, even if this is definitely not a movie for everybody.