Die Einsamkeit der Krokodile (2000)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Jobst Oetzmann

Writers:

Dirk Kurbjuweit (novel)
Jobst Oetzmann (writer)

Release Date:

17 May 2001 (Germany)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

A journalist looks for the reason of a young man's suicide. During his research, he talks to the oddest kinds of people and finds out that he himself is not very different from the dead man. |

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Awards:

3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Janek Rieke	...	Elias
Thomas Schmauser	...	Günther Sperl
Julia Jäger	...	Heike
Dynell Rhodes	...	Mary
Rosemarie Fendel	...	Frau Sperl
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Oliver Bröcker	...	J. Pellmann
Josef Heynert	...	F. Rottau
Renate Krößner	...	Friede
Arndt Schwering-Sohnrey	...	Roland
Ernst Stötzner	...	Helmut

Also Known As:

The Loneliness of the Crocodiles (USA)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

Germany:12 (w)

Filming Locations:

Höxter, North Rhine - Westphalia, Germany

Company:

Olga Film GmbH

Quotes:

[As Elias is freeing pigs from their pens]
Elias: 'Wir sind leise Schweine... Shhh!'
Elias: 'We are quite pigs... Shhh!'

A Respectable Black Comedy

This film involves you from the beginning and you stay with it until the end. It is, after all, a mystery and we wish to find out what happened. The script is rather intelligent and it is peopled with believable characters for the most part. It is a black comedy and we have a portrait of a small town with universally recognized characteristics.

Our hero with ambitions to be a reporter goes to visit the town where his cousin died in order to find out what happened. He meets great resistance from the small minded members of this small minded town and thus the drama ensues. You immediately identify with the problems and bumbling nature of our reporter hero and you can feel sympathy for his many difficulties. However, the real hero of the film is Gunther who has died. In flash backs we witness his life before its untimely end and we can understand what happened by the end of this film. He is a long-suffering individual who is very different from everyone else in the village.

I have a few problems regarding believability of some of the character development but I can not go into detail because it could reveal too much of the film. This is a somewhat kinky film in the true traditions of black comedy and I feel most people will respect this film.