Simply A Masterpiece

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

hyped garbage

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

This film is outstanding in its portrayal of pioneer travel. The trials and tribulations, from the petty to the disastrous are endured as they really were endured. There always will be characters like Emily and Carl who will keep it together for the whole team, despite being just as worn out as everybody else. And the cruel blow at the end, bitter and crunching does not deter the survivor from going on.

In Canada in 1896, a train led by a steam locomotive arrives in a small town not too far from Vancouver. The exact date is not that important, though "1896" appears on screen, but later a tombstone says 1898 even though it is not possible for two years to have passed.The woman who gets off the train is Emily, an attractive and nicely dressed woman from Chicago. She pays Laser (pronounced lass-er, not lai-zer), whose ad was responsible for attracting the members of the group who Laser intends to lead to Dawson to search for gold. The journey will be a difficult one because there is not a clear route, though Laser has marked the approximate route on a map, showing that rivers will be used at some point.Carl takes care of the horses which most of the members of the group ride and there is potential for romance between him and Emily Marie appears to be the cook, and her husband Otto takes care of the food. They have a covered wagon. Muller is a journalist whose primary interest is documenting the journey.It's not long before Laser shows evidence that he doesn't know what he's doing, but that he only wanted the other people's money. And more than once, the group is advised not to continue by people in the towns because it will be very difficult to get to Dawson. Indians are helpful, though they want money, and not everyone believes they should be trusted, even though Indians would know more than the others who have not been there. Most of the members are very determined to continue despite many obstacles. Two men show up in one town and ask "Grandpa" if he saw a group of Germans. They appear to desire harm to the group.In the wilderness, justice and medicine are very different from how they are in town. And not everyone is going to make it to Dawson. I won't say whether anyone actually does.Is this any good? Maybe. It illustrates the difficulty of being among the first in an area, and having to cope when there is no one else around for miles to help. Sometimes there is merely tension, sometimes danger, and sometimes the mood is just plain dismal.Much of the acting is the same quality as what might be expected when a group sits around the table reading the script for the first time. Some acting is better than that. Even if the acting isn't all that good, the story is good, if you like this sort of thing. I wasn't all that entertained but this just isn't my type of movie.Though this is supposedly set in 1896, a lot of the "music" sounds more like 1996. It might actually be appropriate but so much of it seems like just noise. Several scenes do benefit from an eerie new age sound that could actually have been performed during the time period, enhancing a very dismal atmosphere. Rossmann does play the banjo, but not nearly enough. He's pretty good, meaning real.The scenery is beautiful. Some areas don't have trees and don't look quite as good, but that doesn't mean it's not still impressive. Personally I like the trees better than what looks like desert.I forgot to look for the statement that no animals were harmed. Assuming there was one, a couple of horses do some good stunt work. Or at least someone does a good job of making it look like a horse had an impressive fall.The movie doesn't quite live up to its title, but it's not too bad, I guess.

"Gold" is a 2013 western film from Germany and with this title, it is certainly not a film you will find too easily a couple years from now. So if you get a hand on it now, go check it out. It is not half as known as the more recent German (actually Austrian) western film "Das finstere Tal", but I personally believe it is just as good, probably better. The writer and director is Thomas Arslan and I find it a bit sad to see he has no new upcoming projects since 2013 apparently. Anyway, this is certainly his most known work to date, so maybe new projects will follow soon. This film is about a group of Germans who are in North America and go on a journey that is supposed to lead them to finding gold as the film takes place during the days of the Gold Rush. It is a very bleak and atmospheric watch. This is no western film where people are constantly shooting each other, even if some shots are fired. Instead, Arslan focused on depicting how rough and devastating life must have been back in the day, not only for people who go on such strenuous journey. I avoid the term "adventure" on purpose.I think that this film's biggest strength is not only the atmospheric touch, but it is also the actors. Hoss (pretty famous in America now too) and Mandic are probably the ones you can consider lead in here and they are good, but I must say that it was mostly the supporting players who made this so watchable. They were all great casting decision and all make their characters look so authentic and realistic with their quirks and characteristics. It was all fitting well. And this also includes Arslan's script. The way he wrote the characters and events fits very well with what happens to them. One example would be we never find out what happened to the original leader of the group. In a bad western film, he would have appeared at the end again trying to take revenge. Or the two protagonists never find Lars Rudolph's character again after he went missing. In a bad horror film, they may have found his corpse. Conclusion: This is not a bad horror film. There were only a few moments that I did not like as much about this movie. The last 10 minutes are certainly a bit difficult. I have seen the film way back when it was new and came to theaters and I disliked the way Mandic's character gets killed out of nowhere at the end. I liked it more on rewatch now. It somehow fits. This could have happened to anybody anytime back then. However, I still believe the moment when Hoss' character cries for him is when the film should have ended. That strong female-focused ending with her continuing the journey did not work well for me. First of all, it puts too much focus on Hoss after this is an ensemble performance and secondly, like I already wrote, the emancipation theme (everybody dies/gives up except her) at the end did not work well with everything that happened before. Of course, it's just my subjective opinion and maybe other people will like it more. But it left a bit of a bad aftertaste for me. Nonetheless, this is just a minor criticism and I enjoyed the watch a lot. The performances made me think about giving this one a ****/***** occasionally even. In the end, I decided not too, but it does not change my recommendation at all. Watch this film if you like westerns. You will certainly not be disappointed.

Gold is a beautiful, intricate, sound movie. A movie that just depicts us humans, in our epic quest, without any concessions. Driven by some ungraspable idea, we need groups, leadership, moral standards, intimacy and love. Not all of us will stay, at least, not to the end of the movie, but though, the movie will go on somewhere else. A great canvas of WE as WE ARE. And then still willing to strive and look forward, still in the need to move ahead. Thus the depiction is better than the feeling you will get at the end of the movie.This might be because, we, as a species, are made to believe and hope.8/10