Lord of the Thieves (film)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Lord of Thieves
Original title The Thief Lord
Country of production Germany , Luxembourg , United Kingdom
original language English
Publishing year 2006
length 98 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
JMK 0
Rod
Director Richard Claus
script Richard Claus
Daniel Musgrave
production Richard Claus
John Buchanan
Kwesi Dickson
Daniel Musgrave
music Nigel Clarke
Michael Csanyi-Willis
camera David Slama
cut Peter R. Adam
occupation

The Thief Lord is a family film by director Richard Claus from 2006. Prosper and Bo, two orphan boys , do not want to accept their separation and join young Scipio and his gang of thieves on their escape. The film is a co-production by Warner Bros. GmbH, Future Films Ltd., Delux Productions, Comet Film and Thema Production distributed by Warner Bros. GmbH Germany. The world premiere took place on December 18, 2005 in Hamburg, the cinema release in Germany on January 5, 2006. It is a film adaptation of the novel Herr der Diebe by Cornelia Funke . The script was written by Daniel Musgrave and Richard Claus.

action

The film begins in Hamburg, where the young Prosper breaks out of the orphanage and frees his little brother Bo from her aunt Esther's villa. The mother of the two died and their aunt adopted the younger of the brothers, but sent the older one to an orphanage. But the two orphans absolutely want to stay together. That's why they flee to the beautiful lagoon city of Venice, which their mother has always loved so much.

But the matter is harder than expected. The two have to flee constantly and are forced to steal in order to survive. As the brothers are preparing for a hard night in an old courtyard in Venice one evening, they suddenly meet a black-clad, masked boy named Scipio, who calls himself “the thief master”. He takes Bo and Prosper with him to an old cinema, where his shelter, the “star hiding place”, is. There he lives with his friends Riccio, Wespe and Mosca, who are also all orphans. As the “master of thieves”, he goes on a raid at night and steals all kinds of valuable things. He's never been caught. They then sell the stolen valuables to a dealer named Ernesto Barbarossa. With this money, the gang manages to provide for themselves and get through.

In the meantime, Esther and Maximilian Hartlieb have commissioned the detective Victor Getz to find their nephews Bo and Prosper and bring them back. Victor begins the search with lots of equipment and lots of disguises.

Through Barbarossa, Scipio now learns of a mysterious man who has a very special assignment for him. He meets this man named “Conte” together with Mosca and Prosper in the confessional of the basilica on St. Mark's Square. For a high payment he is supposed to steal a strange wooden grand piano for him. But what the Conte needs this wing for, he doesn't want to reveal. Meanwhile, Bo reveals a lot of information about his friends and their hiding place in the old cinema to the disguised Victor Getz. Victor Dottore then visits Massimo, the owner, and finds out that Scipio is actually the son of the wealthy Dottore. Sure of victory, he makes his way to the cinema to finally find Bo and Prosper.

There, however, he is overwhelmed and captured by the children. He befriends them and reveals the truth about their friend Scipio. The children want to see for themselves and go to the Massimo villa. There they have to find out, however, that Victor did not lie and that the "thief master" is really the son of Dottore Massimo. In addition, they now also know that Scipio was never really a master thief, but that all the stolen things only come from his rich parents' home. All of them want nothing more to do with Scipio and therefore plan to steal the piano for the Conte alone.

When they break into the house where the piano is located the following evening, they meet Scipio again and get into an argument. Thereupon they are discovered by Ida Spavento, the house owner, who tells them everything about the order. They make friends with Ida and through her learn everything about the mysterious wing. It belongs to the magical carousel of the Sisters of Mercy, which has long been lost. Those who ride the carousel either grow up or become a child again.

Ida gives the children the wing on the condition that they can come along to see the carousel for themselves. After handing them over to the Conte and his sister, they secretly follow the two by boat to the cursed island of Isola Segreta, where the carousel is now. However, they are discovered and have to flee. In the meantime, Barbarossa, who has observed everything, reveals the gang's hiding place to the police and has Bo and Wasp caught. Bo is taken to his aunt Esther and Wasp ends up in the Sisters of Mercy orphanage.

Prosper, Riccio and Mosca blame Victor for this betrayal and lie in wait for him. But he swears to them that it wasn't him. The detective tells them where Bo and Wasp are and that the Count cheated on them and paid them fake money. Ida and Victor manage to get Wasp out of the orphanage by pretending to be godmother and lawyer. Bo also manages to escape from the clutches of Esther and her husband again.

Prosper and Scipio decide to go to Isola Segreta alone and ride the carousel because they absolutely want to be adults. On the island they meet the Conte named Renzo and his sister, who are children again thanks to the carousel. The wing was the last missing piece to get the carousel working again. As compensation for the wrong money, he lets Scipio drive on the device, who proudly comes back as a grown man. But Prosper decides to stay young so that he can stay Bo a brother. Shortly afterwards, Barbarossa suddenly appears, who is also riding the merry-go-round and comes back as a small child. But due to its heavy weight, it breaks off the wing and destroys the carousel forever.

Scipio and Prosper return to Ida's house, where they meet all of their friends again. But the Hartliebs followed them and demanded Bo back. In the ensuing turmoil, Prosper is almost shot by Maximilian Hartlieb and Scipio makes it clear to both of them that they should disappear forever. Victor and Ida then bring little Barbarossa to the Hartliebs, who welcome the little one with open arms and finally adopt it. In the end Scipio and Victor work together as detectives, Riccio and Mosca begin their own lives and Bo, Prosper and Wasp are allowed to stay with Ida and become a family.

backgrounds

  • Action scenes such as chases through Venice at night and fantasy elements such as the mysterious carousel and the magical figures on St. Mark's Square in the city of Venice play a central role in the film.

Voice actor

The voice actors for the German version:

Reviews

As with all literary adaptations, this film is also often compared by critics and audiences with the successful book. It is recognized throughout that the script is strictly based on the plot of the book. In many cases, however, this is also seen as a shortcoming, as by Daniela Pogade: The film does not do much more than a faithful illustration of the narrative. The director also acts for Horst Peter Koll without ever being able to condense the fable into a cinematic life of its own.

For many viewers who have read the book, the characters, well characterized by Cornelia Funke in her novel, pale into mere types . Daniela Pogade says: Even if the child actors were cast according to the tried and tested type theory (one sweet, one cheeky, one smart, one female), their appearance remains quite pale and restrained.

The TIME magazine wrote about Cornelia Funke books with them adults might even discover their imagination again . According to the weekly newspaper Die Welt , exactly the opposite is the case for the film: In Richard Claus' hands all the fantastic moments in the novel lose their magic. They are reduced to cheap special effects that don't even add a touch of atmosphere.

The internal conflicts of all the main characters, which make up the real tension in Funke's novel, often fall by the wayside in favor of the action-packed external plot. For Michael Brake, however, more serious questions about everyday adolescents are negotiated in the film : It's about friendship and responsibility, about the freedoms of childhood and assertion in a world in which adults make the rules. However, according to Horst Peter Koll, the film avoids the real “secret” of the story, the tragedy of wasted childhood and youth.

Another disadvantage is that a German book was made into a film with the international market in mind. The commentary in the Bildzeitung , which was printed on the back of the DVD edition of the film, also relates more to the book than to the film: Erich Kästner would love “Lord of the Thieves” .

Christina Tilmann wrote in the Tagesspiegel : Lord of the Thieves, shot in the most beautiful original locations, is a wonderful children's film that owes a lot to its young leading actors, above all the blond-haired Jasper Harris as Bo. A bit of Oliver Twist, a lot of Harry Potter, a good dose of fairy tale film and adventure, tension and heartbreak and - with the character of the idiot detective (Jim Carter) - a lot of humor. Even Vanessa Redgrave has a guest appearance as a nun.

The German Film and Media Evaluation FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the title valuable.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Age rating for Lord of Thieves . Youth Media Commission .
  2. ↑ synchronkartei.de: Lord of the Thieves. Retrieved August 27, 2015 .