Klaus Kinski vs. 5,000 annoyed hippies.What could possibly go wrong?Full review: klaus.kinski.us/jesus-christus-erloser-2008/
Directed by Peter Geyer
Jesus Christus Erlöser
A gritty, grounded documentary.
Klaus Kinski has perhaps the most ferocious reputation of all screen actors: his volatility was documented to electrifying effect in Werner Herzog’s 1999 portrait My Best Fiend. This documentary provides further fascinating insight into the talent and the tantrums of the great man. Beset by hecklers, Kinski tries to deliver an epic monologue about the life of Christ (with whom he perhaps identifies a little too closely). The performance becomes a stand-off, as Kinski fights for control of the crowd and alters the words to bait his tormentors. Indispensable for Kinski fans, and a riveting introduction for newcomers, this is a unique document, which Variety called ‘a time capsule of societal ideals and personal demons.’
Jesus Christ Saviour is showing in 1 cinema in Berlin - next screening Sunday 18 October at 13:00 at Hackesche Höfe Kino.
Next screenings: Sunday 18 October.
Full schedule
Jesus Christ Saviour showtimes, refreshed every morning
Pick your cinema, get a nudge before it leaves screens.
Klaus Kinski vs. 5,000 annoyed hippies.What could possibly go wrong?Full review: klaus.kinski.us/jesus-christus-erloser-2008/
Peter Geyer put together every imaginable snippet of Klaus Kinski's legendary performance on November 20, 1971 in the Deutschlandhalle, creating a completely independent, unique experience. Because Kinski does not - as we know it - fill a television screen with an appearance on a talk show or a narrative construct in one of his many film roles, but he completely occupies a cinema hall for 75 minutes. Full concentration on Kinski. He has to start his lines over and over again because he gets interrupted. It seems a little sensationalistic when one revels in the conflict between Klaus Kinski's cholerics and German ignorance, but there is always that strange moment when one is drawn back into the Deutschlandhalle on November 20, 1971. A spectacle. "One man in the middle of the darkness". You almost want to shout or applaud. A real "movie".Geyer assembled countless images - Kinski himself had commissioned 7 (!) cameras to film his performance, the image material was of such high quality (and expensive; Kinski paid out of his own pocket) that it is still excellent to work with today - so important especially the image-sound coherence. The act of production took several years, and so Geyer is considered somewhat sarcastically as a "Kinski known by heart". Even when you were there, you really couldn't help but get the impression that the good man had become a very restless, excited person because of the Sisyphean task. When a spectator in the audience remarks that he can imagine why people reacted so furiously to Kinski at the time, Geyer asks him to come forward with the words: "Now come over here and explain to me why!" This was by no means ironic and referential to the film - in the middle of which there was this legendary 1:1 sequence between Kinski and an angry viewer - but came from deep within Geyer.
"Komm, halt deine Schnauze, damit du hörst, was ich jetzt sage!"Eine Parabel dessen, dass die unmittelbare Zeit nach der 68er-Bewegung von verwilderter und wirrer Politisierung sowie die Ablehnung jeglicher Autoritäten lebte, die die Disziplin für das Erhören einer aus linker Sicht gerade sehr fruchtvollen Rede verweigerte, junge Leute zum Ergötzen ihrer selbst provozierten, um die Stimme eines gestandenen Schauspielers, der aufgrund seiner exzentrischen und teils manisch-menschenverletzenden Art, in der er alles Erdenkliche tat nicht geliebt zu werden, immer wieder, ohne ihn zu erhören, niederschmetternd abzuweisen, wodurch auch sein Bedürfnis, in Zeiten des Vietnamkriegs, trotz seiner berüchtigten Reputation, eine überraschend friedliche Botschaft, entlehnt aus dem Neuen Testament über die Identität und das Leben Jesu mit seinen Mitmenschen, zu säen, verworfen wird, die genau das widerspiegelt, was die damals junge Generation wollte. Progressivität im Staate Deutschlands, 1971.Amen.
It captures a chaotic 1971 theatrical performance in Berlin where the volatile actor attempts to deliver a passionate monologue about the life of Christ while clashing with a hostile, heckling crowd.
Peter Geyer directed this 2008 documentary, compiling long-lost footage of the infamous stage event.
Full schedule on Mood.
