Falling Rocks (2000) User Reviews

Interesting setting, interesting thriller

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 18 August 2017]

"Falling Rocks" is (despite the title) a German German-language film from the year 2000. The director is Austrian though (Peter Keglevic) and so is the most known actor in here. No offense to Michelsen, Dobra or Hennicke, but 99% of the people looking for this film today do so because it includes Christoph Waltz, another Austrian, about a decade before his huge successes in Hollywood. Waltz actually worked with Keglevic on quite a few projects. But back to this one here: The cast includes actors from several European countries, so it is a bit of a multi-cultural endeavor. And while this is far from a perfect film, it has many good, even some great moments. These are all connected to the thriller component. You really don't get many quality thriller films from Germany these days sadly, but this one (if we don't count it as Austrian) fits the description. I was curious if Waltz character was the killer or what the secret behind these diamonds really is. Yes the film goes a bit over the top at times during its 1.5 hours in trying to become even more entertaining and significant as there are other moments making up for it. It's never really a mediocre film, it's either very strong or rather weak I would say, sadly some of the actors are also off the mark at times. The location (South African desert) also gives the film a nice atmospheric touch. As a whole, it is not as great as "Tag der Abrechnung", another Keglevic/Waltz collaboration, but it comes close at times and is still a convincing outcome at times. Also always refreshing to see filmmakers not scared of unhappy, but realistic endings. I have a feeling this was more common in the 1990s and many filmmakers from this generation can learn a lot from Keglevic, not just about endings, not just about this film, but about movie making in general. "Falling Rocks" gets a thumbs-up. It's not easy at all these days to find this film, but if you do, then give it a go because I enjoyed it for the most part and I hope so will you.

cool (hot) film set in africa

[GMTMaster · 9/10 · 3 April 2001]

one of the better german films. Great photography and a really suspenseful story made this movie one of the best of the year. Watched it late night on german tv. Normally you know who the murder is in one of those who-might-be-the-murder films, but this one is absolutely shocking.

a great directors work

[Frickfilm · 10/10 · 5 September 2002]

"Falling Rocks" rocks like a David Fincher movie. I know how much courage it takes, to confess to a consequent ending like this. The calm but thrilling development of the plot shows a great knowledge about the secrets of storytelling.

anica dobra ist phantastisch

[allesgeht2001 · 9/10 · 22 March 2001]

all the actors of this very good movie are extremely good. wonderful pictures of africa in the sun. the story is a bit old, but extremely suspenseful. six people are on a run for their lives, because one killer is among them. the end is totally shocking and surprising. i recommend this film for everyone who likes suspenseful movies.

And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of The Dead

[HuskyEnzo · 10/10 · 23 November 2008]

Normally I don't expect much of straight-to-TV-productions from the German commercial TV-corporations – too often the outcome is a clumsy attempt to copy American premium-big-screen-products by just transferring them 1:1 into German landscapes or cities and cultural contexts (without transition), resulting in overdosed action, unrealistic car-explosions, plot-holes, low psychological character-performances and idiotic shoot-outs "...where someone catches 14 bullets and wipes them away with a grin..." (Andrew Vachss, "Flood"-afterword, German edition). Contrary here: A group of friends starts a one-week-backpacking-tour through a deserted area in rural South-Africa. After two days the group discovers a dead parajumper in a pond. By searching him for ID they find a small steelcase full of diamonds, which the dead man obviously wanted to take out of country. The group argues what to do –deliver the stones to the authorities and report the corpse or just steal the stones. Nevertheless the group has to walk on to their destination – a boarded SUV at the next interstate, 4 days away. They take the diamonds with them to decide later. In the following the group realizes that they get stalked when the first one of them dies. Did somebody watch them taking the diamonds?

Day by day they lose more friends, leaving them behind buried under rough stonepiles. Desperation, paranoia, conflicts and distrust increase in the group which –by not just dumping the stones- is already beyond the point-of-no-return.

The last survivors consider themselves safe, when they meet –and accidentally shoot- an old prospector in the outback after finding one trekking-item at his camp that they considered lost 'til then.

But this production refuses such foul compromises and drags the characters on towards the deadly climax – no quarters but a tension-curve to cut your teeth into! This film combines a credible plot, well shooting and editing with an excellent conduction, terrific sceneries and some of the finer but lesser known German actors (Anica Dobra, Aleksandar Jovanovic). It's surely one of the most qualitative premium flicks in German TV in recent years.