Iceman

Dir: Felix Randau

2018

****

I do love a good revenge movie but because there have been so many great ones made in the last decade, it is a genre in danger of becoming clogged with samey entries. Korean director Park Chan-wook gave the genre a boast of adrenaline between 2002 and 2005 with his Vengeance Trilogy (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy and Lady Vengeance) and it had a huge effect of western cinema, leading to films such as Kill Bill and John Wick, as well as a rather pointless Oldboy remake. Revenge films have taken us to underground crime circuits, to the old west and the far east. Most revenge films end in violence but some of the more intelligent examples, such as David Slade’s Hard Candy and Denis Dercourt’s The Page Turner, realise that revenge is a dish best served cold, and chose to ruin the revenge rather than slice them up with a samurai sword. The best ones are usually meticulous and involve years of planning, so the viewer really believes that the act of revenge is justified, even though it is lawless. I’m weary of politically motivated revenge films such as Death Wish and vigilantism should be handled with responsibility (or in parody) but I do love a twist ending. Revenge films and twist endings go hand in hand but I don’t feel we’ve had the ultimate pairing just yet. The genre is somewhat stifled still by the formulaic notion of time passing and odds being overcome in order to achieve the desired revenge, rather than the simple act of revenge. You could say most films contain acts of revenge in them, ranging from a simple unkind act as seen in most rom-coms to I Spit in Your Grave levels of vengeance. You could argue that a true to life revenge film should be brutal and uncomfortable to watch – like Gaspar Noé’s Irreversible – but I think you also have to question the motive and ethics of films such as The House On the Edge of the Park and I Spit in Your Grave (the sequel more so than the original). Blue Ruin and the brilliant Mandy have been the more original revenge movies of the last few years with The Reverent being the most popular and most formulaic but the fact remains, Jaws 4 is still the most unique revenge film of all time. Until now. Der Mann aus dem Eis, or Iceman as it is known in the UK, is writer/director Felix Randau’s first film in a decade. It is set in the Ötztal Alps, more than 5300 years ago, making it the earliest revenge film ever made. We watch a Neolithic clan and the birth of its leader’s second child. It is a peaceful clan and Kelab leads it with respect. During a hunting trip the settlement is attacked. Everyone in his tribe is brutally murdered by three traveling strangers; among them Kelab's wife and son. Only his newborn second child has survived in the arms of his dead brother who was shot with an arrow when trying to escape. Kelab sees the men in the distance as they leave the settlement and follows them once he has burned the bodies of his loved ones. The pursuit of the murderers shapes up to be quite the odyssey for Kelab as he battles all terrain. He also fights for his newborn’s survival and against the forces of nature. A fatal error even turns Kelab from hunter to hunted. On top of all that, his loneliness causes Kelab to doubt his actions more and more. Kelab is actually based on Ötzi, the mummy that was found in September 1991 in the Ötztal Alps, hence the nickname "Ötzi". He was found near Similaun mountain and Hauslabjoch on the border between Austria and Italy and is the oldest discovered mummy in Europe. Many fascinating discoveries were made in analyzing Ötzi’s remains but the one Randau has focused on in his film is the question of how he died. The film is essentially a suggestion of the events that may have led to his demise. The cause of death remained uncertain until 10 years after the discovery of the body. It was initially believed that Ötzi died from exposure during a winter storm. Later it was speculated that Ötzi might have been a victim of a ritual sacrifice, perhaps for being a chieftain. This explanation was inspired by theories previously advanced for the first millennium BCE bodies recovered from peat bogs such as the Tollund Man and the Lindow Man. However, in 2001, X-rays revealed that Ötzi had an arrowhead lodged in his left shoulder when he died, and a matching small tear on his coat. The discovery of the arrowhead prompted researchers to theorize Ötzi died of blood loss from the wound, which would probably have been fatal even if modern medical techniques had been available. Further research found that the arrow's shaft had been removed before death, and close examination of the body found bruises and cuts to the hands, wrists and chest and cerebral trauma indicative of a blow to the head. One of the cuts was to the base of his thumb that reached down to the bone but had no time to heal before his death. Currently, it is believed that Ötzi bled to death after the arrow shattered the scapula and damaged nerves and blood vessels before lodging near the lung. Recent DNA analyses claim they revealed traces of blood from at least four other people on his gear: one from his knife, two from a single arrowhead, and a fourth from his coat. Interpretations of these findings were that Ötzi killed two people with the same arrow, and was able to retrieve it on both occasions, and the blood on his coat was from a wounded comrade he may have carried over his back. Ötzi's posture in death (frozen body, face down, left arm bent across the chest) could support a theory that before death occurred and rigor mortis set in, the Iceman was turned onto his stomach in the effort to remove the arrow shaft. The question whether Ötzi died at a much lower altitude and was buried higher in the mountains or simply died where he was found is still debated but one thing is sure – he died a violent death. Randau film depicts what is essentially the first unsolved murder case in the history of mankind, using every piece of research at his disposal to great effect. Obviously it is a work of fiction but historically it is pretty much as it was back then and the language used is what they would have spoken then. The film isn’t translated either, but its fine, you understand what they are saying by their actions. It’s a brave move for sure but it is very effective. It’s a unique tale, a historical mystery and a look at life in Neolithic times but first and foremost it is a revenge film. The Franco Nero cameo confirms it. I found it compelling from beginning to end, my only issue being that Neolithic men all look the same to me and it took me a while to work out who was who. Otherwise I absolutely loved it, although no one is talking about it, making it one of the most overlooked films of 2017/2018.