User Reviews

Slow to start, and the movie is not about Gold in so much as it is about what people will do for a chance. This small group is led by a shyster who promises them an easy journey north to the Klondike up through a route he promises he has traveled many times. Things do not go well for the group, and we watch as one after the other they are stricken down with one thing or another. Some stop along the way, and turn back, and some are lost forever and lie buried along the trails. If you can handle subtitles then you might Enjoy this movie, I can't say you will like it a lot though. There is just nothing much to this story, there is a bit of action very near the end, and You do get to watch one very persistent Woman in our Nina who will not let anything stop her from reaching her goal. It did surprise me that the biggest threat to these people was themselves, and nature, the only Natives you see are helpful (for a price) and if these folks had been following a better guide they might have made it together to the end. I recommend this movie though to people who like to just sit, and watch the world go by, as that is one thing this movie does really well. The scenery is beautiful and full of life all around them. Not for a late nite, but a good movie for late afternoons when you have time to pay attention.

"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.

As the four COMMENTERS before me point out, GOLD is not a Hollywood western but a rather sincere attempt to depict fellow countrymen (The film is German-made about Germans) a century ago in a foreign land. Indeed many languages were wailed across the western prairies in the 1800's, a fact seldom seen in Westerns. Credit the maker with allowing his culture to have the same faults as the rest of us. But whether this "virtue" of GOLD may have been intended is unknown; e.g., we see a single Chinese, but no mix of trekking humankind. Such was surely financially prohibitive - GOLD was made on a shoestring budget using not sets but small historical parks in British Columbia and with contemporary German actors and limited extras. As much as I loved Nina Hoss in BARBARA I think a younger actress; e.g., Anjorka Strechel, would have been a better fit. The film's plot holds no legitimate twists or surprises and the ending may prove inconsequential to many. GOLD could have been greatly enhanced by superior camera work, vistas and imagination. Instead we appear to see the same locales and areas throughout. The group, at one point, appears reluctant to cross a river that appears ankle-deep. A ten yard splat of mud is likewise a major obstacle. But I found GOLD charming in it's simplicity and consideration of mundane hardships (bad food!). The characters were provided realistic and historical backgrounds. Hey, hard to make a film set in the 18th century North American West WITHOUT falling into the trappings of a "Western". In this GOLD succeeds.

PS / I so agree with PlanktonRules observation that the trials of the GOLD crew parallel the 90's video game OREGON TRAIL, which I played dozens of times with my kids. Broken wagon wheels and disease are indeed catastrophes.

This movie is slow, but it kept me glued to my seat. Seven people start out on what turns out to be an arduous, perilous and deadly trek to Alaska during the 1898 gold rush. Their target - Dawson, in the Yukon Territory, using the "interior" land route through British Columbia.

Gradually, the seven are reduced to 2: Emily, played by Nina Hoss, and the wrangler, Carl, played by Marko Mandic. I was enthralled by the travails of the group, and the gradual reduction in their numbers. The loneliness and remoteness was palpable, and from an historical standpoint, appeared fairly accurate. The only thing missing, IMO, was the lack of wild animals Never saw a deer, elk, or even a bear. Although we did get a night of wolves howling off in the distance.

Anyway, the movie ends with Emily and Carl, two emigrants from Europe who need a good break, finding love in all this misery, and you get the idea it could be leading to something serious as they rest up in a small village before continuing on. But Carl is gunned down by a former enemy. Emily kills the assassin, then cradles Carl as he dies.

There is almost no dialog after this, but clearly, Emily stays in town to get Carl buried. Maybe a few days, or a week? She is then seen saddling her horse obviously heading out on her way to Dawson. She has new clothes on, a fully loaded pack horse, and has a look of grim determination about her. She stops by the grave of Carl, whose headstone indicates Carl died on Sept 7, 1898. The movie ends as she rides out of town. A townsperson asks "Where you going?" She responds over her shoulder as she rides off, "Dawson."

Emily was clearly a very strong woman, real "pioneer stock," as might be said. I wanted to know how she fared after leaving this little village. I wanted an "Epilog." So here is my version of an Epilog.

Epilog Emily made it to Dawson City as winter was setting in. She found work as a school teacher, nurse and seamstress. The following summer, she opened a restaurant and a small hotel. She prospered nicely, and was highly regarded in the community of Dawson, helping decide issues at several miner's meetings. In 1907 it was reported in the local paper that she left Dawson a "wealthy lady who would be sorely missed in these parts."

Shortly thereafter, there is mention of her in a Whitehorse newspaper, and later she moved to Vancouver, BC. An obituary in the Vancouver paper commented on her death in 1935, indicating she was a highly regarded "stately matron" about town, active in her church, and involved in many charitable endeavors. She died peacefully with friends at her side. She was never married.

Spoiler Ahead, Maybe? I'm a BIG Western fan but nowadays it seems that most indy Westerns are cheaply done & BORING so I really wasn't expecting that much out of this movie.Gold really surprised me.It was very well done & had my attention from the start.One scene right after the other, something was always going on, the scenery was just beautiful & it was NEVER boring.If you watch a lot of Westerns or ever played the game, The Oregon Trail then you can figure out what happens (I DON'T mean that in a bad way) I was hoping that everything would end up happily ever after but I knew better.If you're a fan of Westerns or not, Gold is a movie I'd recommend anybody watch.If I ever come across this movie at the store or wherever, I'm definitely buying myself a copy.It's WAY underrated & should be more well known than it is

Good god help me one star is for decent costumes and the other for pretty sites. there is like 40 minutes of filler throughout the movie of the party just riding horses with no dialogue. the camera operator had their hands tied behind their back, or didnt care to make it interesting. just put the camera on a tripod. the cut/edit the first time we see our lead in some town is pointless. as many other scenes afterwards. the lead doesnt connect with anyone actually, no deep conversation, no conflict, no personality. she wears a blue dress the entire time and in the prelude there is one person with something blue on their backpack but is it her? i dont think so, it was a guy. the music is monotone as hell and put anywhere when the party looks at something in silence or rides in silence like robots. the gold from the title is two huge poops which barely appear and dont matter, no one tries to steal it or even covets it. the guy who already has it tries to steal the partys money instead. the 'badguys' are in like two scenes, the first one misguides you into thinking theres a mystery in this story and a chase but there is no urgency, no tension. theres no tension between characters either. everyone is flat and barely care about anything. no one is crazy. when the one - lets say - meanie drunk steps into a bear trap he doesnt even scream right away. theres three scenes - RIGHT IN A ROW - when the rest find him and free him(without speaking a single word), then he's hurt'ey and they say he will make it, then they cut his leg and he dies. another thing is that barely anything happens because of someones character. even the drunk is boring. everything is random. one horse falls off a hill and a guy got his hand broken because of that, one horse just randomly collapses even though its not established that theres no water or something and the horse carer doesnt face any consequences, the bear trap - random, you dont get a sense of changing place because the whole countryside looks alike even though they ride all the time. theres more to talk about the nothing that is this movie but id recommend to watch this to learn how to not make films. i feel like this movie was made for retired people who dont go outside. its a western, looks pretty, its not complicated and they barely shoot so its not loud. enjoy