Der Unhold (1996)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Volker Schlöndorff

Writers:

Michel Tournier (novel)
Jean-Claude Carrière (writer) ...

Release Date:

12 September 1996 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Frenchman Abel Tiffauges likes children, and wants to protect them against the grown-ups. Falsely suspected as child molester...

Plot Keywords:

Children | Boy | Castle | Frenchman | Hunting

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

John Malkovich	...	Abel Tiffauges
Gottfried John	...	Chief Forrester
Marianne Sägebrecht	...	Mrs. Netta
Volker Spengler	...	Fieldmarshall Hermann Goering
Heino Ferch	...	SS Officer Raufeisen
Dieter Laser	...	Prof. Blaettchen
Agnès Soral	...	Rachel
Sasha Hanau	...	Martine
Vernon Dobtcheff	...	Lawyer
Simon McBurney	...	Brigadier
Ilja Smoljanski	...	Ephraim
Luc Florian	...	Prisoner-of-War
Laurent Spielvogel	...	Prisoner-of-War
Marc Duret	...	Prisoner-of-War
Philippe Sturbelle	...	Prisoner-of-War

Also Known As:

Le roi des aulnes (France)
The Ogre

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

France | Germany | UK

Language:

English | German | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Singapore:PG | Germany:12 (w) | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:18 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Malbork, Poland

Company:

Canal+

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Prior to the school fire, a caption says "Paris 1925". Upon his arrest as an adult, Abel, through his narration, remembers the fire as having happened "twenty years ago". This would place his adult scenes in 1945, but when he joins the French army after his arrest it is before the German occupation of Paris which would place his arrest in 1940. However, Abel is slow-witted and possibly does not have an accurate sense of time.

Quotes:

Prof. Blaettchen: Brightness is not a characteristic of the German race. We don't want brightness! People say, "Oh, so-and-so is so bright, he has such a clear mind!" No. We mistrust this brightness, this clarity. Let the new African races cultivate brightness. Our sources are in darkness. That is what drives us to unparalleled creativity.

A brilliant study in disparity (*****)

Known in English as "The Ogre" this has got to be John Malkovich's finest film to date. He plays an ignorant man, Abel, living in a small town at the dawn of the Nazi movement. He seems to be mentally slow, but emotionally heightened as has a great passion for the vitality of the children in the town. He is fond of photographing, especially children. However, due to a mis-understanding, because the people of the small town are so ignorant and afraid of the quiet lumbering Abel, he is sentenced to jail (undeservedly) for the crime of molesting a child. He is transferred to help with the war effort in France, and eventually comes to work for the Nazi party, "recruiting" children for the cause. He, however, does not seem to know what the Nazis stand for, or why he shouldn't be taking in children. He cares for the children as if they were his own, and is eventually persecuted for harbouring a young Jewish boy, which is when he begins to realise the ramifications of his plight.

A brilliantly scripted film (filmed in English despite the foreign origin). A must see. It saddens me, though that it is so difficult to find, and that it was never released in the US (as far as I know).

-jjj