So Der Todesking is not the most feel good film of all time, as it's subject matter is suicide, loneliness, depression, and also redemption in the absolute worst ways. It is a film about people who get the short end of the stick in life and how people at their worst can take control of their miserable lives through suicide, thus becoming Der TodesKing (or King of Death). The King of Death supposedly exists within all minds and can manifest when we are at our worst, driving suicidal thoughts into our minds. The film is broken up into 7 days following different people who are struggling to cope with existence in a world they view as empty. Thursday in particular was a strange sequence of just a German bridge and the camera floating all the way over it. While the camera is floating over the bridge we see names flashing on the screen, ages, and occupations, implying they are people who jumped from this bridge today. Between scenes a body is shown being devoured by bugs until over the span of the film it is eaten to almost it's entirety, and all while the film's score plays (nice score but wish it had more music). The film attempts to explain the concept of suicide as a radical escape from harsh reality, and a way of taking revenge against society for it's progressiveness that tends to leave so many behind. When left behind those who tend to take their own life know for but a moment that they will not be ignored if only for the moment, and in spite remind everybody of the emptiness in their existence that others may have contributed to.
Overall being a Jorg Buttgereit (Nekromantik 1 & 2, and Schramm) film, I couldn't help but be surprised the film wasn't more exploitive like his past works. He says the film is supposed to be anti-suicide, but nobody in the film really has anything good happening in life. With that being said those who submit to their urges always appear in absolute agony, and therefore I can't claim it glorifies it in any way either. So I guess it's an ambiguous somewhat avante garde take on some very heavy subject matter. I don't hate it, but I wasn't overly entertained either, which I'm sure was the point. Maybe in some ways it shows the agonies in our life as impermanent, where as the ending of that life as an excruciating and sad task which in the end still brings no happiness. I guess I'd probably give it a 6/10 for it's attempt and sometimes successes at handling the controversial subject matter. Sometimes it was a beautiful film, but equally it was a drag at points.
Overall being a Jorg Buttgereit (Nekromantik 1 & 2, and Schramm) film, I couldn't help but be surprised the film wasn't more exploitive like his past works. He says the film is supposed to be anti-suicide, but nobody in the film really has anything good happening in life. With that being said those who submit to their urges always appear in absolute agony, and therefore I can't claim it glorifies it in any way either. So I guess it's an ambiguous somewhat avante garde take on some very heavy subject matter. I don't hate it, but I wasn't overly entertained either, which I'm sure was the point. Maybe in some ways it shows the agonies in our life as impermanent, where as the ending of that life as an excruciating and sad task which in the end still brings no happiness. I guess I'd probably give it a 6/10 for it's attempt and sometimes successes at handling the controversial subject matter. Sometimes it was a beautiful film, but equally it was a drag at points.