Review of Karl May (1974) by Theodore F — 07 Mar 2010

Bio-pic of the titular German writer, whose made up stories about the Wild West in America were sold as first hand accounts, follows the public unraveling of his gimmicked travels and the political efforts to destroy him.

Unlike the later works, Syberberg keeps the operatic flourishes to a severe minimum, the deliberately static formalism echoes the historical period of the first generation to have seen the widespread use of a printing press. A powerful moment of transcendence comes later, in the the impossible and omniscient voice and authority of the future. A cautious tribute to the writer/artist as apolitical singularity.