Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas (2013)

• Year: 2013
• Released: 14 Aug 2013
• Country: France, Germany
• Adwords: 4 wins & 7 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2054790/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/age_of_uprising_the_legend_of_michael_kohlhaas
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/age-of-uprising-the-legend-of-michael-kohlhaas
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: French, German, Occitan
• MPA Rating: Unrated
• Genre: Drama, History
• Runtime: 122 min
• Writer: Christelle Berthevas, Arnaud des Pallières, Heinrich von Kleist
• Director: Arnaud des Pallières
• Cast: Mads Mikkelsen, Mélusine Mayance, Delphine Chuillot
• Keywords: sword, 16th century,

	6.1/10
	51/100
	47% – Critics
	38% – Audience

Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas Storyline

In the 16th century in the Cévennes, a horse dealer by the name of Michael Kohlhaas leads a happy family life. When a lord treats him unjustly, he raises an army and puts the country to fire and sword in order to have his rights restored.

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Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas Movie Reviews

German writer Heinrich Von Kleist’s character Michael Kohlhaas questioned why should anybody be treated badly ?

It is on more than one occasion that German writer Heinrich Von Kleist (1777-1811) has turned out to be useful for French cinema. Firstly, it was Eric Rohmer who chose to make a film based on his work “Marquise d’O”. After Rohmer, it is French director Arnaud De Pallières who chose to make a film based on one of Kleist most famous novellas “Michael Kohlhaas” with striking differences as instead of choosing a German style, he opted for a French setting in order to furnish Gallic touches to his film. The resulting film can be viewed from two angles which highlight the notions of equal rights and justice for all. From one angle, it is an ethical story which closely examines the concepts of good, bad, just, unjust, fair and unfair. It can also be viewed by many as a tale of revenge. The real Michael Kohlhass rose against noblemen of his times when his horses were taken and his wife murdered. There are not many critics who have commented upon this film’s erotic elements as it has some passionate love making scenes. The role which religion played in all matters related to people and nobles is explained through the intervention of Martin Luther. His decision to support Michael Kohlhass suggests the say which religion had in legal matters. It is not only due to an ensemble star cast made up of French actors that Arnaud De Pallières’ film “Michael Kohlhaas” gets a French look and feel but also due to its setting for which Cévennes region was chosen to film most scenes. For this reason, Arnaud De Pallières would be remembered for a long time to come as he has faithfully recreated old Prussia in Cévennes,France. Lastly, it needs to be stated that as a film “Michael Kohlhass” is 122 minutes of delightful, high quality cinematographic experience for which director Arnaud De Pallières had three great directors as inspiration : Werner Herzog (Aguirre), Akira Kurosawa (The Seven Samurai) and Andrei Tarkovsky (Andrei Rublev)

Mikkelsen is far better than the material he’s been given…

The above summary was provided by my lovely wife as she watched the movie with me. While I wouldn’t have exactly phrased it that way, it is to the point and I cannot deny this does, in an odd way, encapsulate what the movie “Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas” is for the average viewer. It’s a shame, because I had expected more from this film since it stars a very exciting actor, the Danish man of many talents, Mads Mikkelsen–a guy you probably recognize but whose name you might not.

Mikkelsen has received a lot of attention in the States lately with his performance as the lead in the TV series “Hannibal”. His portrayal of the serial killer is far different from earlier ones–with a much more thoughtful and sophisticated persona than other Hannibals. Before this, he received a lot of publicity as one of James Bond’s villains in “Casino Royale”. However, I have known about him long before this, as he’s been a star in Danish films for some time–and I really love Danish movies. Interestingly, here in “Age of Uprising”, Mikkelsen speaks French–not English or Danish. My daughter (a HUGE fan of “Hannibal””) did some research for me about this and found that the actor also speaks German and Russian! Wow…he certainly isn’t a dumb guy! But, he’s simply done many better films than this particular one.

The film is based on the true story of Hans Kohlhase—a 16th century rebel who, for a time, plagued Germany. His life was the basis of a novel by the German author Heinrich von Kleist and the story was first brought to film in 1969 as “Michael Kohlhaas–der Rebell” (starring the British actor David Warner).

When the story begins, a nobleman seizes some horses belonging to the merchant, Michael Kohlhaas. He had no legal basis for doing this but to make matters worse, he savagely sent his dogs on Kohlhaas’ servant and then mistreated the horses severely. In response, Kohlhaas sued the nobleman. Unfortunately, back in the day, life wasn’t necessarily fair- -and Kohlhaas’ case was thrown out of court. Soon, Kohlhaas’ wife is murdered in retribution for the lawsuit. With no other apparent choices other than to just accept this injustice, Kohlhaas and his men go on a vigilante crusade–dispensing their form of justice through the countryside. What’s next? Well, you could watch the film…or just read Wikipedia. Unfortunately, I’d recommend the latter. Why? Because the story IS an interesting case of class warfare and should have been exciting–sort of like a German version of “Braveheart”. Unfortunately, it’s not. The film is tedious and extremely bereft of life when it should have been inspiring and exciting. The musical score is extremely stark and minimalistic–adding to the tedium that you see on the screen. The movie manages to make the least of the great source material.

The bottom line is that I loved Mads Mikkelsen’s work…just not this particular film. My advice is to try watching his best films–such as his Oscar-nominated movies “The Hunt” and “After the Wedding” as well as “Flame and Citron”. These are truly exceptional and show off Mikkelsen’s immense talents to their fullest.

Visually stunning, but oh so slow

AGE OF UPRISING: THE LEGEND OF MICHAEL KOHLHAAS is an interesting film about a mini revolution that took place in historical France. It’s often a beautifully shot film, breathtakingly so at times, and it features a typically strong performance from Mads Mikkelsen in the lead role. Mikkelsen plays a sympathetic figure, a man who becomes oppressed to the extent that he has no choice but to fight back.

The problem with AGE OF UPRISING is that it goes out of its way to be as slow and arty as is humanly possibly. There’s an hour’s worth of plotting and incident dragged out to two hours, and boy, does it drag. Each scene plays out for far too long, and everything seems to be deliberately subdued and painstakingly detailed. Now, I do appreciate all of the lovely scenery, and having seen this in high definition I can say it’s a visually stunning film.

But movies are about more than the visuals, and in that respect AGE OF UPRISING disappoints. The traditional storyline is a familiar one and nothing much happens that hasn’t been seen elsewhere. In the end you can only sit back and enjoy it to a degree – and roles for the likes of Bruno Ganz help – but without getting more fully invested in a more involving movie.