The Young Karl Marx (2017)

The early years of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Jenny Marx, between Paris, Brussels and London.

Director:

Raoul Peck

Writers:

Pascal Bonitzer (screenplay), Raoul Peck (screenplay)

Stars:

August Diehl, Stefan Konarske, Vicky Krieps

1 win.

Cast

Credited cast:
August Diehl	...	Karl Marx
Stefan Konarske	...	Friedrich Engels
Vicky Krieps	...	Jenny von Westphalen-Marx
Olivier Gourmet	...	Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Hannah Steele	...	Mary Burns
Alexander Scheer	...	Wilhelm Weitling
Hans-Uwe Bauer	...	Arnold Ruge
Michael Brandner	...	Joseph Moll
Ivan Franek	...	Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin
Peter Benedict	...	Herr Engels
Niels-Bruno Schmidt	...	Karl Grün
Marie Meinzenbach	...	Lenchen
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Wiebke Adam	...	Frau Ruge
Aran Bert	...	Paddy (as Aran Bertetto)
Ronald Beurms	...	Officer

Storyline

26 year-old Karl Marx embarks with his wife, Jenny, on the road to exile. In 1844 Paris, he meets Friedrich Engels, an industrialist's son, who investigated the sordid birth of the British working-class. Engels, the dandy, provides the last piece of the puzzle to the young Karl Marx's new vision of the world. Together, between censorship and the police's repression, riots and political upheavals, they will lead the labor movement during its development into a modern era.

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Plot Keywords:

karl marx | poverty | philosopher | communism | factory | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Swiss censorship visa # 1011.821.

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Quotes

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon: [to Marx] Do not be like Luther who, after destroying Catholic dogma, founded an equally intolerant religion.

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Soundtracks

Like a Rolling Stone
Written and Performed by Bob Dylan

User Reviews

The Young Karl Marx

The Young Karl Marx chronicles the period when young Karl Marx meets his future long-term friend and co-author Friedrich Engels and the several following years. During the Berlinale press conference dedicated to the film Raoul Peck was asked if he read Karl Marx. He answered that he attended seminars dedicated to Marx's Capital. His film is reminiscent of such a seminar; interminable and tedious.

There are many dialogues, questions, answers however the film completely lacks artistic vision. There is no interesting music, camera-work or a gripping plot.

Raoul Peck tried to underline the more materialistic side of his relationship with Jenny, showing his sex life and child birth. To deprive Marx of certain romanticism is also not fair, the young philosopher was a romantic of his own kind; he was engaged for seven years to Jenny and dedicated many poems to her.

The discussions depicted in the film are too primitive for such great thinkers such as Marx, Engels, Proudhon and Bakunin. The proletariat, on the other hand, is shown as a group of people with abject faces and feeble children, which makes the ideas of Marx about the proletariat too idealistic and not connected to reality.

One of the positive sides of the picture is that Peck did not try to distort facts about the people in the film, however after the film finishes one feels relieved that the drawn-out seminar on Karl Marx is finally over.

Read more at: http://indie-cinema.com/2017/02/young-karl-marx/

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

France Germany Belgium

Language:

German French English

Release Date:

6 March 2018 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Young Karl Marx

Filming Locations:

France

Box Office

Budget:

EUR9,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$26,097, 25 February 2018

Gross USA:

$125,659

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$4,870,373

Company Credits

Production Co:

Agat Films & Cie, Velvet Film, Velvet Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (as Dolby 5.1)

Color:

Color Black and White (archive footage)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1