King of Thieves

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Movie
Original title King of Thieves
Country of production Germany
Slovakia
Austria
Czech Republic
France
original language German
Publishing year 2004
length 101 minutes
Rod
Director Ivan Fíla
script Ivan Fíla
production Helga Bähr
Rudolf Biermann
Ivan Fíla
music Michael Kocáb
camera Vladimír Smutný
cut Ivana Davidová
occupation

Prince of Thieves is a film by Ivan Fíla from the year 2004 on the fate of street boys Barbu.

action

The boy Barbu grew up in poverty in the Ukrainian province. He dreams of becoming a famous artist and "king of the ring". The artist Caruso promises to take him and his sister Mimma to Berlin , where he will be trained in Caruso's circus . He smuggles Barbu and Mimma to Germany in various ways .

While the circus turns out to be a training camp for street thieves after Barbu's arrival, Mimma is gambled away by Caruso playing poker with the pimp Cardinal. He tells Barbu that Mimma was sent back at the border. Together with the older Marcel, Barbu goes stealing on the street. He also befriends Julie, Caruso's friend, who was once seriously injured in a tightrope act.

But after a while, Marcel no longer provides the required limit of “loot” and is removed from the group. Before that, he gives Barbu a Colt and asks him to hand over the part of the booty that Marcel had diverted to his sister Bianca, who was also pushed to work as a prostitute. From this Barbu learns that his own sister is also being forced into prostitution by the cardinal. He confronts Cardinal with the Colt and can get as far as Mimma, but is then overwhelmed and brought back to Caruso. The latter denies having known that Mimma was in Germany and claims that it would cost 100,000 euros to buy her free, which Barbu would have to collect by stealing.

But Barbu attacks Caruso's hiding place at night and tries to free Mimma in order to escape with her and the money. He is caught again and is severely punished by Caruso. Julie intervenes and shoots Caruso. Julie and Barbu flee and want to free Mimma. Julie shoots Cardinal, but when she returns to the car and Barbu with Mimma, Caruso appears, shoots Julie and mortally wounds her. But he lets Barbu and Mimma go and the two return to their home village.

Reviews

“Dark film in the form of a brutal fairy tale, which uses an exemplary example to depict a world without hope and confronts people with smuggling, human trafficking and child prostitution. The contemporary "Oliver Twist" variant addresses both the misery in Eastern Europe and the darker side of large western cities. "

- film service

Awards

  • Bohemian lion 2005
    • Best actor
    • Best camera work
    • Best music
    • Best tone

Web links