User Reviews

(The day will come when the saw wants to saw). This line may not make as much sense in English as in German, but it sums up the movie very good. Working in a coal mine for the last few years, Katlewski has had it. All he has achieved so far is a small house, a wife, some furniture and DM9150 - in dept. So he exits this life via the interlinked coal mines of the Ruhr. He finds Uli, a rare find who is free of all the burdens he wants to get rid of. She is watcher, critic and (at least somehow) guide for Katlewski, who shows us around life of the early 80's in the Ruhr. The heavy industries and the coal mines that were a trademark of the Ruhr now all but gone, watching this movie is like watching history. Yet it is only 25 years past. The only things in this movie you are likely to find today in the Ruhr are the people and the problems. More problems likely, as by the time of the movie the bad times had already started - the end of the coal mines, the end of the steelworks and the unemployment (with no end). The grime, the smoke and the dreary look is (more or less) gone but you can still meet the people, living their lives, trying to make ends meet and dreaming their dreams. Mostly unnoticed and unregarded. You may or may not like them when you meet them, but they will tell you if they like you. And don't ask people carrying chain saws around if their name is Katlewski. You will only keep them from work and hear some rather rude words about it. A man like Katlewski is maybe already to far ahead of you to catch up.

"Jede Menge Kohle" is a German 95-minute movie from 1981. It is in the German language and has been so far probably the most known effort by writer and director Adolf Winkelmann. This is also because the film took home the big prize at the German Film Awards back then. Lead actor Detlev Quandt received a nomination as well and it was only his second performance in a film. However, it was also his last as he left Germany after making this film and never returned to acting until his very early death. The entire film is basically about the protagonist's struggles, rather with his professional life than with his personal life and he seems to have difficulties in finding the right path. While I enjoyed Quandt's performance and felt that it was disappointing how he stopped acting so quickly because he had some strong screen presence, I must also say that I was not convinced at all or impressed or at least entertained by the overall story and the plot. The supporting character, and this includes our "hero's" girlfriend were mostly uninteresting and I just did not care for any of them. It was also difficult to care for the main character as I felt he was a very angry unlikable fellow. This would have been perfectly fine if there had been a convincing story constructed around these characters. It's not necessary to like (any of) the characters if the plot that involves them is nonetheless worth seeing, but this is not the case here. I guess the film's success with awards bodies back then may have been because it felt relevant for its time and possibly depicted life back then the way it was. However, the inclusion of chainsaw action makes me doubt that too. Still I was not born when this was released 35 years, so I cannot really comment any further about the accuracy. I can only say that I am not too surprised Winkelmann did not make it to the elite of German filmmakers and stayed there because I cannot see much talent with this film here. i give it a thumbs-down and don't recommend the watch.