As the name implies, The Young Karl Marx follows the earlier years of the famed philosopher and godfather of communism, Karl Marx (August Diehl, Inglourious Basterds, Salt), as he meets German philosopher and colleague, Friedrich Engels (Stefan Konarske, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets), in Cologne, Germany, in 1844. This buddy movie shows us how their interests aligned and how they raged against the capitalist movement in Europe, a spark that would birth of the Communist movement a few years later.
With a lot of political dialogue, as expected, it's still easy to become attracted to the bromance as the two men journey to critique the capitalist and socioeconomic politics of Brussels and Paris. They challenged the rhetoric of politics and ethics that branched into the Marxist theory, which is far from what we see in today's capitalist society.
The acting is tightly knit, as are the filmmaking skills of Oscar-nominated Haitian director and screenwriter Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro, Lumumba). The sets and locations are finely complimented with the 19th-century casual and formal dress as well, but if the film is trying to be thought-provoking or tried to have us think about Marxism on a deeper level, it misses the mark with a lack of good story-telling.
The stakes don't seem high enough, and the climax isn't much. Visually speaking, however, The Young Karl Marx excels, and the evolving relationship between Marx and Engels could pass as a good history lesson for anyone interested in their teachings. If anything, it's a good introduction to the political and philosophical criticism of the era—just don't be surprised to find it's boring.
6
+ Costumes, Acting
– Action scenes are awkward, anti-climactic
The Young Karl Marx
Directed by Peck
With Diehl, Krieps
Center for Contemporary Arts,
NR, 118 min.
