Karl May (Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, 1974, West Germany)

Karl May (1974) is the second film in Hans-Jurgen Syberberg’s German trilogy, following Ludwig and preceding Our Hitler. Compared to the other two films in the trilogy, Karl May is relatively straightforward. That’s not to say it doesn’t feel like a Syberberg film - there are certain stylistic choices that betray its director. But compared to the other two films in the trilogy, Karl May almost plays like a conventional biopic, meaning it is largely bounded in time and space and less prone to philosophical discursions or symbolic imagery.

The film largely takes place during the end of Karl May’s life and the beginning of the 1900s, when he was embroiled in a number of scandals with his publishers and his ex-wife. These scandals engulfed German newspapers at the time, even drawing the attention of a young Hitler (who is briefly portrayed in the film attending one of May’s trials). May was one of Germany's most popular writers, known for his adventures and westerns. But he is largely unknown outside of the German-speaking world, perhaps because his adventures were entirely fabricated - apparently, he had never left Germany.

Karl May touches on the controversy surrounding May’s fabrications, as well as his sordid early life. May’s status - coming as he did from the working class - was the subject of much moral panic among the educated classes. The fact that he had written smut in his early career was also a source of controversy. Syberberg’s film is an interesting exploration of class dynamics and class tensions in German society at the fin-de-siecle. At 3 hours, the film is as epic as any other of Syberberg’s films, but regrettably, it is not as epic in scope as the other two entries in this series. It is the least impressive of the 3.

7/10