''Krabat'' () is a 2008 German

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually Magic (paranormal), magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The Film genre, genre is considered a form of speculative fic ...

directed by

Marco Kreuzpaintner Marco Johann Kreuzpaintner (born 11 March 1977) is a German film director, screenwriter, showrunner and executive producer. He is known for his gay coming-of-age feature film ''Summer Storm (2004 film), Summer Storm'', the critical acclaimed Netfl ...

from a screenplay by Michael Gutmann and Kreuzpaintner, based on

Otfried Preußler Otfried Preußler (; sometimes spelled Preussler; born Otfried Syrowatka; 20 October 1923 – 18 February 2013) was a German children's books author. More than 50 million copies of his books have been sold worldwide and they have been translate ...

's 1971 novel of the same name. The plot is about a boy, Krabat (played by

David Kross David Kross (born 4 July 1990) is a German actor. He began his career at a young age with a small role in the 2002 film ''Hilfe, ich bin ein Junge'' and worked sporadically, mainly focusing on his school work. In 2008, he portrayed Michael Berg ...

), who learns

black magic Black magic (Middle English: ''nigromancy''), sometimes dark magic, traditionally refers to the use of Magic (paranormal), magic or supernatural powers for evil and selfish purposes. The links and interaction between black magic and religi ...

from a sorcerer (played by Christian Redl). A

DVD-Video DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVDs. DVD-Video was the dominant consumer home video format in most of the world in the 2000s. As of 2024, it competes with the high-definition Blu-ray Disc, while both rece ...

encode of the film is distributed in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

as ''Krabat and the Legend of the Satanic Mill''. It premiered in the US at the

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) is a film festival held annually in Seattle, Washington, United States, since 1976. It usually takes place in late May and/or early June. It is one of the largest festivals in the world, and feature ...

in 2009.

Plot

When the Plague sweeps across Europe after the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

a boy named Krabat (

) is left without family, food, or hope. An old mill keeper takes him in as an apprentice. Eleven other boys are working at the mill, and Krabat develops a friendship with one of them, a young man named Tonda (

Daniel Brühl Daniel César Martín Brühl González (; ; born 16 June 1978) is a German and Spanish actor. He has received various accolades, including three European Film Awards and three German Film Awards, along with nominations for two Golden Globe Awar ...

). Soon, Krabat learns that the apprentices are also taught dark sorcery by the master. One of the rituals (during Easter) leads to an excursion to the nearby village Schwarzkollm where Krabat meets a young girl and falls in love with her. There, Tonda also talks to one of the girls; both seem to be in love with each other. Later, Tonda warns Krabat that the master must never know the name of his girl. One day, while protecting the nearby village from soldiers, Tonda makes an error and his girl's name (Worschula) is revealed to the master. The next day, Worschula turns up in the creek, dead. Krabat mistakenly blames Lyschko, another apprentice. Tonda becomes a recluse and anticipates the end of the year. Krabat's first Silvester (New Year's Eve) brings to light the true horror of the mill. Every Silvester, one of the boys must be sacrificed so the master may remain young. And so at midnight, Krabat's best friend Tonda is viciously murdered, and when Krabat tries to help him he is stopped by the other boys who tell him that "there is nothing we can do". Before he dies, Tonda tells Krabat there is another boy in the mill Krabat can confide in. He also tells Krabat to take two sacks of flour to the village. Krabat is distraught over Tonda's death but does as he is told. Bringing the sacks of flour to a tree near the village, Krabat once again meets the girl he first met while protecting the village. He is in love but does not let the girl tell him her name, fearing for her life. Instead, he calls her Kantorka (Choir leader). During the ritual at Easter night, he goes to the village to meet her, this time along with a boy called Juro who appears to be mentally disabled and not able to learn the trade or properly do magic. When Juro tells Krabat that they must leave and go back to the mill, Krabat insists that he will stay with Kantorka. Juro then uses powerful magic to convince Krabat to come back with him, revealing that he is in truth highly intelligent and powerful, even able to change the weather. Juro promises Krabat that he will help him escape the master, and tells him that his girl must ask for him on Silvester to set him free. Krabat tells Kantorka that she must do so, and she agrees and gives Krabat a lock of her hair, telling him to have another boy deliver it to her when the time is right. When Krabat returns, a series of climactic events are set in motion.

Cast

as Krabat *

as Tonda * Christian Redl as The Master *

Robert Stadlober Robert Stadlober (born 3 August 1982) is an Austrian actor and musician. Life and career Robert Stadlober was born in Friesach in the Austrian province of Carinthia, and grew up in Puchfeld in the Steiermark (Austria) and in Berlin (Germany). A ...

as Lyschko *

Paula Kalenberg Paula Kalenberg (born 9 November 1986) is a German actress. She is probably best-known to international audiences for her roles in films '' Krabat'', '' Vision - From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen'', and '' Jew Suss: Rise and Fall''. Career Ka ...

as Kantorka *

Hanno Koffler Hanno Koffler (born March 25, 1980) is a German actor and musician. His most famous films include '' Summer Storm'', '' Krabat'' and ''Free Fall''. He also starred in the Oscar-nominated film, ''Never Look Away'' (2018), directed by Florian Henc ...

as Juro *

Anna Thalbach Anna Maria Joachim genannt Thalbach (born 1 June 1973), known as Anna Maria Thalbach, is a German actress. Her mother, Katharina Thalbach Katharina Thalbach (; actually ''Katharina Joachim genannt Thalbach''; born 19 January 1954) is a Germ ...

as Worschula *

Charly Hübner Carsten Johannes Marcus Hübner (born 4 December 1972 in Neustrelitz) is a German actor. He appeared in more than eighty films since 2003, including ''Magical Mystery or: The Return of Karl Schmidt'' (in 2017) and The Good Neighbour (''Unter Nach ...

as Michal *Moritz Grove as Merten *

Tom Wlaschiha Thomas Wlaschiha is a German actor. Internationally, he is known for his roles as Jaqen H'ghar in the second, fifth and sixth seasons of the TV series ''Game of Thrones'', as well as Sebastian Berger in the police procedural ''Crossing Lines'' ...

as Hanzo *Sven Hönig as Andrusch *Stefan Haschke as Staschko *David Fischbach as Lobosch *

Daniel Steiner Daniel Steiner (born 1973) is a German actor and film director. Life and career Steiner was born in Rheda. In the 90s, he visited the University of Leeds, where he finished his ''Broadcasting study'' with a bachelor's degree. After he worked ...

as Petar *Tom Lass as Kubo *Daniel Fripath as Kito *Ionuț Băiaș as Baro *Mac Steinmeier as Godfather Death *Carmen Ungureanu as Krabat's Mother *

Otto Sander Otto Sander (; 30 June 1941 – 12 September 2013) was a German film, theater, and voice actor. Life Education and early career Sander grew up in Kassel, where he graduated in 1961 from the Friedrichgymnasium. After leaving school he spen ...

as the narrator (voice only)

Reception

Flickering Myth reviewed the

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

release of the film, in which he wrote: "Krabat has great potential even though the film doesn’t fully realize it. It fails to explore some interesting story elements and is a little slow on pace. However, it focuses really well on the themes of temptation; with the lure of black magic and power, and friendship; with the sense of brotherhood and companionship Krabat experiences. It’s an enjoyable dark fantasy that has a Grimm fairytale-like feel to it and effective performances from the lead actors."

Awards

''Krabat'' was nominated for the

Deutscher Filmpreis The German Film Award (), also known as Lola after its prize statuette, is the national film award of Germany. It is presented at an annual ceremony honouring cinematic achievements in the Cinema of Germany, German film industry. Besides being ...

in 2009 in the categories ''Best Production Design'', ''Best Music'' and ''Best Sound Design''.

References

External links