Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas.

Inspired by Heinrich von Kleist German novella Michael Kohlhaas, which in it self is based on the true story of Hans Kohlhase a 16^th century merchant who lived in Colln which today is called Berlin, French born director and writer Arnaud des Pallieres has adapted the story to concern an ordinary family man who earns a living trading in horses and only turns to violence when all other options have eluded him. 

 

Kohlhaas and his wife Judith.

Whilst taking horses to market Michael Kohlhaas (Danish actor Mads Mikkelson in his brooding warrior mode) has to pass through the local barons lands who seizes two of his best black horses as collateral for his lack of a transit permit even though as he discovers he does not need one. Returning to collect his horses and his servant Cesar (David Bennent), who has stayed to look after the valuable beasts, he finds that the horses have been viciously worked in the barons fields and are damaged goods also Cesar has been savaged by the barons dogs. Our horse trader then attempts to sue for reparations for both his damaged horses and his badly injured servant but the case is unfairly dismissed because the baron has a relative at court. It is decided that Kohlhaas’s wife Judith (Delphine Chuillot) should partition the ruling princess directly, but she is badly beaten and dies on her return to her husband and teenage daughter Lisbeth. In Kohlhaas’s mind his has only one course of action left to him – that is to extract revenge and search for retribution for the wrongs done to him and his family. 

 

Lisbeth must be protected at all costs.

Maybe a little slow and deliberate for some but in my opinion an admirable example of austere period drama, admittedly sombre and bleak but totally gripping all brilliantly acted out by Mikkelson and his supporting cast, which includes, as well as these already mentioned, Bruno Ganz as the main protector of the authoritarians and the excellent Denis Lavant as a Protestant theologian who is in a great scene where he lectures Michael Kohlhaas about the moral dimension of the action he has taken. When you have the privilege to witness such inventive filmmaking you realise that the demise of the movie is greatly exaggerated.

Will Kohlhaas extract his revenge?

In Order of Disappearance (Kraftidioten)

Director:	Hans Petter Moland
Country:	Norway
Year:	2014
Running Time:	116mins
Principle Cast:	Stellan Skarsgard	Nils
	Bruno Ganz	Papa
	Pal Sveere Hagan	Greven
	Birgitte Hjort Serensen	Marit
	Jakob Oftebro	Aron Horowitz

Described as ‘hugely enjoyable, gruesome, ingenious, brilliantly-cast pitch black comedy set against the hugely cinematic snow covered landscape of a rural winter’[4] If you found the Jo Nesbo scripted Jackpot (2011) funny, your going to just love the extremely blacker than black humour of another Norwegian export The Order of Disappearance (2014). Certainly a revenge drama that unlike the subtle direction and handling of Alejandro Fernandez Almendras’s Chilean thriller To Kill a Man (2014) is nearer to the Death Wish (1974) and Fargo (1996) format of blood and gore.

Citizen of the year Nils Dickman drives the snowplough to keep the local roads clear. When the police inform Nils that his only son has died from a drug overdose he does not believe it and suspects that he has been murdered. He sets out to find the culprits, starting at the bottom rung of the drug cartel gradually getting to the truth but not before the body count increases. The local gang boss and health food fanatic Greven thinks that the Serbian gang, who share the local territory, are behind the sudden disappearance of his henchmen. This in turn starts a turf war that only Nils can bring to a successful but bloody conclusion.  

As well as the beautifully photographed snow covered scenery it’s the politically incorrect laugh out loud humour that carries the film. It was a good job we had undertitles because the laughter drowned out the dialog at times especially when every time someone was killed the screen went black and the victims name appeared along with his gang name and a cross denoting what religion the person was i.e. a Christian or Serbian Orthodox or Jewish - Star of David! Like most Nordic films the acting was superb with both Stellen Skarsgard and Bruno Ganz underplaying their roles to great affect. A cracking watch in which the two-hour’s just melted away.