Der Mann aus dem Eis (2017)

The Ötztal Alps, more than 5300 years ago. A Neolithic clan has settled near a creek. It is their leader Kelab's responsibility to be the keeper of the group's holy shrine Tineka. While ... See full summary »

Director:

Felix Randau

Writer:

Felix Randau

Stars:

Jürgen Vogel, André Hennicke, Susanne Wuest

5 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Jürgen Vogel	...	Kelab
André Hennicke	...	Krant
Susanne Wuest	...	Kisis
Sabin Tambrea	...	Tasar
Martin Augustin Schneider	...	Gosar
Violetta Schurawlow	...	Mitar
Anna F.	...	Kulan (as Anna Wappel)
Axel Stein	...	Gris
Paula Renzler	...	Rasop
Franco Nero	...	Ditob
Nora Pider
Ann-Birgit Höller
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Henry Buchmann	...	Trapper
Konrad Hochgruber	...	Toran

Storyline

The Ötztal Alps, more than 5300 years ago. A Neolithic clan has settled near a creek. It is their leader Kelab's responsibility to be the keeper of the group's holy shrine Tineka. While Kelab is hunting, the settlement is attacked. The members of the tribe are brutally murdered, among them Kelab's wife and son, only one newborn survives - and Tineka is gone. Blinded by pain and fury, Kelab is out for one thing alone - vengeance. The pursuit of the murderers is shaping up to be quite an odyssey for Kelab. He fights for the infant's survival and against the forces of nature. And a fatal error even turns Kelab from hunter to hunted. On top of all that, the loneliness causes Kelab to doubt his actions more and more. When Kelab finally faces the murderers of his clan, his greatest challenge will be not to become a murderer himself. - Ötzi - The Iceman is one of the oldest and most well-known mummies in the world. With emotional impact, writer/director Felix Randau depicts the first ...

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Plot Keywords:

prehistoric times | ice | otzi | frozen in ice | glacier | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Official Site

Country:

Germany Italy Austria

Language:

German

Release Date:

30 November 2017 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Iceman

Filming Locations:

Alto Adige/Südtirol, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Port au Prince Film & Kultur Produktion,Echo Films,Lucky Bird Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

A fictional story of the last few days in the life of Ötzi, one of the oldest and best-preserved bodies that has ever been found, and who was discovered in 1991, 5,300 years after his estimated death.

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Goofs

[All goofs for this title are spoilers.]

User Reviews

More a revenge drama than living history

Not a bad movie, "Der Mann aus dem Eis" gets weighed down by its "plot" which concentrates on Ötzi's violent death and the days before, creating a murder and revenge story with lots of violence but no levity at all.

The movie gets plus points for trying to get its history right; I liked how it highlights the fact that even then, in the late stone- / early bronze age, humankind was already far removed from the nature it still depended upon. A good idea in this respect were some rituals, plus of course the story's MacGuffin, an obsidian shard used for rituals which is kept in a pretty wooden box.

On the minus side, the amount of violence was maybe historically accurate but if you already go the length of portraying a stone age society halfway correctly (including made-up speech), you might as well include the nicer aspects of human life. A few tender looks and embraces during the first five minutes is all we get.

From the technical POV, the production is OK, out of their limited budget they got everything which could be expected and then some - the sets were fine, the costumes great, casting and acting good (nice lengthy cameo by Franco Nero) and of course the spectacular outdoor locations are an asset. Yet in many instances the camera-work stays rather pedestrian, so while the story shares some genes with "The Revenant", the photography is of lower quality (no big deal, Lubezki is a genius and no mistake). There's only two scenes where the pictures really take flight - one chase along a ridge filmed with a drone or cable-camera against spectacular backdrops, really vertigo-inducing that one - and one lengthy sequence where the hero is trapped in a crevasse below the glacier. Both scenes only emphasize that there was a better movie somewhere but it got buried under a too-simple and violent plot.

Recommended all the same, especially for the realistic portrayal of those early societies.