Nice to look at but not more - but excellent actors - As so often, German films lack the necessary emotional and cinematic depth. That's a shame, because there is plenty of dramatic material - but above all a lot of good German actors. Above all, Hanno Koffler or Christian Friedel.
2 Reviews
A thankful subject turned into a quality movie
Horst_In_Translation1 June 2017
Warning: Spoilers
"Die Dasslers" is a German movie from 2016 or I should actually two movies as this is a mini-series that was aired in two parts here in Germany in April this year, but had its premiere earlier at film festivals last year already. A bit longer ago RTL gave us a surprisingly convincing movie on the same subject and here we have eventually ARD's take on Rudi and Adi Dassler, the brothers who created two of the world's biggest shoe manufacturers Adidas and Puma a long long time ago. The two protagonists are played by Christian Friedel (Das weiße Band) and Hanno Koffler (Freier Fall) while the central women in their lives are played by Alina Levshin (Kriegerin) and Hannah Herzsprung (Who Am I). So you see already that the cast includes a quartet of Germany's most famous actors between the ages 30 and 40. And German film buffs will find more familiar faces like Joachim Król or Christoph Maria Herbst in a somewhat unusual role that is pretty different compared to most of his other stuff.
Anyway, the entire film runs for almost three hours, so it is a really long watch if you plan on seeing it in one sitting, but admittedly it was quite a positive achievement by the filmmakers here that there were really not too many lengths and the film almost never dragged. The filmmaker here are Cyril Boss and Philipp Stennert who are not much older than their lead actors here and have worked on many projects together already in the past. And this long-time companionship shows here because this double feature here turned out just as well as the other one by RTL I mentioned earlier. The actors all do a fairly convincing job and the writing is also pretty good. The film does not lose itself in becoming another empty Nazi/WWII film, but only mentions these aspects in connection to the Dassler brothers, for example on the case of Jesse Owens' footwear during his triumph in Berlin. 1954 and later on Pele result in crucial sequences that elaborate on the rivalry between the two brothers and this is of course one of the central subjects (if not the central subject) during the entire film. Add to that interactions between the brothers with their other relatives, their women as well as their employees and you have a decent summary of what the film is about. If you know a bit about the Dasslers, then there probably isn't really that much that will surprise you here, but predictability is not a negative trait here at all because this film is what you would expect as a quality outcome. And if you don't, then you will certainly learn a lot about two of Germany's biggest brands of all time. I certainly recommend seeing this film. It's a success and evidence that not all German (ARD) small screen films are on the embarrassing level of Tatort these days. Go see it, a well-executed period piece that spans over many decades. It was a bit confusing at first that we see the two central characters at an old age already at the end of the first film because you could actually think this way that there isn't even a sequel. But of course there is. Oh yeah the aging make-up is good as well. Now enough of the words and it's time for you to start watching.
Anyway, the entire film runs for almost three hours, so it is a really long watch if you plan on seeing it in one sitting, but admittedly it was quite a positive achievement by the filmmakers here that there were really not too many lengths and the film almost never dragged. The filmmaker here are Cyril Boss and Philipp Stennert who are not much older than their lead actors here and have worked on many projects together already in the past. And this long-time companionship shows here because this double feature here turned out just as well as the other one by RTL I mentioned earlier. The actors all do a fairly convincing job and the writing is also pretty good. The film does not lose itself in becoming another empty Nazi/WWII film, but only mentions these aspects in connection to the Dassler brothers, for example on the case of Jesse Owens' footwear during his triumph in Berlin. 1954 and later on Pele result in crucial sequences that elaborate on the rivalry between the two brothers and this is of course one of the central subjects (if not the central subject) during the entire film. Add to that interactions between the brothers with their other relatives, their women as well as their employees and you have a decent summary of what the film is about. If you know a bit about the Dasslers, then there probably isn't really that much that will surprise you here, but predictability is not a negative trait here at all because this film is what you would expect as a quality outcome. And if you don't, then you will certainly learn a lot about two of Germany's biggest brands of all time. I certainly recommend seeing this film. It's a success and evidence that not all German (ARD) small screen films are on the embarrassing level of Tatort these days. Go see it, a well-executed period piece that spans over many decades. It was a bit confusing at first that we see the two central characters at an old age already at the end of the first film because you could actually think this way that there isn't even a sequel. But of course there is. Oh yeah the aging make-up is good as well. Now enough of the words and it's time for you to start watching.
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