Krabat

2008 "Everything in this world has its price."
6.1| 2h0m| en| More Info
Released: 09 June 2009 Released
Producted By: Claussen+Wöbke Filmproduktion
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Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

A 14-year-old orphan named Krabat flees the horrors of the 30 Years War by becoming an apprentice to an ominous master of a mysterious mill. Krabat is not only taught the craft of milling, but is also instructed in the sinister world of the darker arts. When the life of his friend and protector is threatened, Krabat must struggle to free himself from an evil sorcerer's control in a gripping fight for freedom, friendship and love.

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Horst in Translation ([email protected]) When you hear the word "Krabat", you will probably wonder first of all what is that. If you think, it has to do with the Moroccan city, you are completely wrong. If you think it includes the German word for raven, you are much closer, but most of all the film is simply named after the film's main character played by David Kross. This movie has some of the most known younger German actors in its cast. Apart from Kross, who you may have seen in "The Reader", there is also Daniel Brühl, Robert Stadlober, Anna Thalbach, Hanno Kofler and my personal favorite Charly Hübner. I'm usually not too big on Kross, Stadlober and Brühl, but at least the latter impressed me occasionally here. I would say that this is mostly a kids movie, although a fairly dark one, but adult audiences can also have a good time watching.The main antagonist is played by Christian Redl, who is also the only older actor in the cast. He plays an evil sorcerer, but as he seemed to be a bit of a father figure to the boys for quite a while, it was initially unclear how evil he really is and I even considered for a moment that Stadlober's character my be the main villain because of Krabat's dislike for him. The movie is written and directed by Marco Kreuzpaintner. It is an adaptation from the late Otfried Preußler's (one of Germany's most famous children's book authors) novel. Kreuzpaintner already worked with a few cast members like Kofler, Stadlober or Paula Kalenberg, the female main character and love interest to Krabat. For the director it is the return back to Germany from Hollywood after making a film with Kevin Kline one year earlier. He is still fairly young, was 30 when he made this film, so we may get many more films from him and I hope they won't be worse than "Krabat".The film won a handful awards and also scored nominations at the German Film awards in the smaller categories. There really wasn't much wrong with this movie. The thing that maybe bothered me the most was the choice of the song "Allein, allein" for the soundtrack. It was a huge hit here in Germany, but I felt that it did not suit the film or the topic at all. Apart from that, it's not a good song at all in my opinion. Really bad choice. They simply should have gone for some gloomy tune without lyrics in my opinion. But back to the more positive factors: I liked how, with the introduction of Krabat's childhood friend, Krabat turned into Brühl's character and the young boy was pretty much Krabat when he freshly joined the group. The fact that the boys are the ravens was clear from the very beginning and it is a good idea although I wish it could have surprised me or they would have added more to that subplot except the ending scene with the girl choosing the correct raven. The 20th Century Fox intro with the ravens was pretty nice as well. However, I wondered what the whole leaving your body plot was about. Brühl's character and Krabat were doing it when Krabat meets his girl the first time. And what was behind the whole thing that they should not have a girlfriend? I guess it was the sorcerer's fear that he could not fight love and that he may lose all his boys just like he did at the end of the film. But one or two more scenes could have helped in my opinion. They could have cut some of the less significant scenes for that. The film runs for pretty much exactly 2 hours and they could have done without 5-10 minutes, because it is already very long, especially for children. Most German kids movies these days do not cross the 100-minute mark.Anyway, as a whole I liked this movie and finally I would also like to mention explicitly the good work with the aging makeup for Redl's and Brühl's characters. The film has some nice fairytale and fantasy elements which made sure it did not drag at all or only once or twice which is very acceptable given the runtime. Very atmospheric too. Recommended.
praagsigaar Hm. I read the book as a kid (a long time ago) and was impressed back then. So no movie could ever live up to that. I've seen it in English but would probably have preferred the German version. To late now. But anyhow. The cinematography is great, the art direction is good (a bit too much 'puppet house style' for me) and the acting is OK. The story is just like I remember it. But without the magic. I do not mean wizardry, of that there's enough. But it never really got to me. Unfortunately. It might be the art direction that does not feel real enough. It might be the acting. I do not know. I need ten lines so here is the tenth line.
Alamarena (I will keep this as spoiler-free as I can, mostly checked the box to be on the safe side).I loved this book when I was younger (I'm in my mid-20s now) and I played the part of the "Master" in a school play one year, so I have a bit of a connection with the story and was very looking forward to seeing this movie. Overall, I have to say it was decent, but nothing to knock my socks off (7 out of 10). They did have to compress a lot of the action, and a lot of the character development suffers (Krabat's evolving from ambitious prize student to somewhat suspicious to doing his own thing), though this is always a problem with book adaptations and not generally something I blame them for. I do have issues with parts of the story that are outright changed, but not necessarily for the better. While I go back and forth on the showdown scene, the previously mentioned "soldiers" scene is absolutely terrible. As a suggestion, the events that lead to Tonda's having gray hair could have been covered in a brief flashback (they don't actually occur during Krabat's time at the mill, anyway), and made room for something else. The acting is very good, especially on the parts of Brühl and Redl; the main character is a bit annoying (he goes from blank-faced boy to angry rebel, skipping the more insightful aspects of Krabat's character -and one of his lines towards the end of the movie was so cheesy I wanted to punch him for it). Scenery and music were nice if a bit Lord of the Rings-esquire (the "Gevatter" was totally a Ringwraith before he turned into Emperor Palpatine and the Kantorka had some initial backup from Enya it seemed), though I'll have to agree on the cliché medieval fantasy bit (especially the bad teeth looked fake). I would not recommend this movie for people who have not read and enjoyed the book, but for those who have, it's quite worthwhile to see, despite all.
patrickgamer I went to see this last night at the Toronto Film Festival. My wife picked it out, and I had expected it to be a silly kid's flick about magic and I was happily surprised. Krabat turned out to be a very good movie.It is not at all cheesy or goofy. I found the screenplay well written, the acting was impressive, and the plot that keeps you engaged. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a change of pace from American fantasy flicks.The basic story takes place at the end of the 30 years war in Germany. It focuses on a young orphan named Krabat. I won't give any more details, except to say that it's an interesting twist on the idea of magic.I'm not saying it's a 10/10 (I gave it 9) there are a few inconsistencies in the film, but they exist outside the main line of the story, and you don't notice them until after the credits are finished.