Horst_In_Translation Review of Du bist nicht allein - Die Roy Black Story

Du bist nicht allein - Die Roy Black Story (1996 TV Movie)

I agree this was a success and not just for Waltz

[6/10 · 14 February 2018]

"Du bist nicht allein - Die Roy Black Story" (which means You Are Not Alone) is an award-winning German-language movie from the 1990s, over 20 years old already and one of several productions between director Peter Keglevic and lead actor Christoph Waltz before his success in Hollywood. It was a small screen release "only", but this should not take away any quality from this slightly over 1.5-hour film. Roy Black may not be as known in America as Nena or Falco, but here in Germany and Austria especially, he was at least as big of a star and you can see in this movie how all these women are melting for him and his voice. Honestly, Waltz may not be physically the right choice for Black (Höllerich), but he makes up for it with his talent and versatility. Obviously he was cast for a reason. But it's not just him. The script is also pretty good and offers an insightful insight in and summary of Black's tumultous life starting with the days when he became famous. There we see the struggle between the music Black wants to make and the music he needs to make in order to be successful. Recurring Beatles references are the result. And the reference that Black always has two personalities inside him and his real authentic one differs so much from his stage character may be one of the main reasons that eventually lead to his hard and fast downfall that finally via alcoholism also results in his untimely death before the age of 50. But in the face of all these parts about how stardom destroys him, we also see moments and sequences from his personal life that could have taken place this way in everybody's life, also for normal non-celebrities like us. If you like the music, is of course a subjective issue here, but it is what it is as this is the kind of music Black is known for until today. So overall, another enjoyable early Waltz film (he was 40 or so at that point) that deserves to be checked out, but seems to be fairly difficult to find these days despite Waltz' rise to stardom a decade ago almost now. If you get a chance to see it, then go for it. If you don't expect a masterpiece and like the lead actor as much as I do, then you won't be disappointed. You're gonna see Christoph here in a way you most certainly have never seen him before. I give these 90 minutes a thumbs-up. Worth checking out.