User Reviews

"Pelikanblut", which means (as you may have guessed already) "Pelican blood", is a new German movie that premiered already last year in 2019, but then the pandemic got in the way, so it took until now, September 2020, for the ide release. The writer and director is Katrin Gebbe and while she has worked on segments from other movies, also been in charge of several shortfilms, this is her second full feature film and it took quite a while since the first (which was still a success) for this one being made and released. She also was a writer and director on "Tore tanzt" ("Tore dances") and is as well on this one we have here. It's a pretty long movie at minimally over two hours. This is a Bulgarian co-production, which may explain why many cast members here are not German, but still it is a German movie that is mostly in the German language. Because of its earlier original release, it already managed a solid amount of awards recognition on many occasions, including one German Film Award nomination. Well, I mentioned "Systemsprenger", which was the big winner during the most recent German Film Awards edition and there are some parallels between these two films as they are both dealing at its very core with a girl struggling hard with aggression and most of it is due to what happened to them as a child, the terrible atrocities they had to suffer through. But not gonna move too close to "System Crasher" as I am sure most people who consider seeing this one here have already seen that way more famous film I just mentioned. Back to this one here: I think Nina Hoss is the only really familiar cast member for me and certainly not only for me, but also for foreign audiences as she has been in stuff like "Homeland" over the years and Germans will mostly know her from her many collaborations with Christian Petzold I'm sure. But as he seems to have moved on to Paula Beer being his new muse, Hoss herself does not struggle at all with finding new roles and challenges. This one we got here is certainly such a challenger as her screen time is really gigantic from beginning to end. By the way, I was lucky enough today to visit a special screening that had both Gebbe and Hoss present and they answered questions after the showing. But no need really to go any further into detail there, let's just focus on the movie now and in the next paragraph I want to elaborate on some scenes, moments and inclusions from this film that somehow stayed in the mind for me.

One aspect here is certainly the atmospheric side. It worked very well there from all kinds of perspectives and helped the film that otherwise here and there could have needed slightly more subtlety, but also never really was on a level where it felt style over substance, so all is fine. The protagonist played by Hoss is a successful horse trainer for the police and is about to adopt a little girl, but runs into gigantic difficulties as the adoptee does not turn out the little angel Hoss' character would have liked her to be. or actually, not too accurate because she accepts the girl's mannerisms since minute one as she knows the psychological damage here is not the girl's fault. She spent over a day or so next to her dead prostitute mother, who got killed by a customer, before being sent to the orphanage. Does something to a girl. So much for the basics. All that follows afterwards is on the showy side. Other kids get injured by the girl, a hedgehog gets killed, her new mother and new sister get attacked, another animal gets killed, fire is set to their home... You get the message. And still Hoss' character will not give up on the girl. On one occasion, she is close to bringing the girl away back to the orphanage, but the brutal treatment by the people there and also the girl screaming "Mama!" makes her change her mind eventually and give it another shot. She sure is a keeper. Very early on, you see how she will not give up on a horse that is struggling, but has massive potential, so her attitude is depicted in a way already that shows us she is a fighter and this is foreshadowing to how she will fight for the girl's affection eventually. I already mentioned the dead animals, but there are more bizarre and kinda sick things happening, such as the protagonist taking pills so she can give milk to the girl again from her breasts and let her feel like a baby and receive maternal love since day one basically. And if this was not bizarre enough, we have that scene when the girl bites into the nipple later on and causes damage to it. Tough stuff for sure. I already mentioned the horse scene very early on, but the spectacular horse scene later on is even more effective and meaningful. There we see Hoss' character witness exaggerated affection from a third-person perspective and how it can result in tragedy, death even. This could have been the point when she changes her mind and realizes there is no point to fight any further. But the opposite is the case. She speaks for the dead horse and is not happy with the cop, her potential boyfriend, taking the killshot, even if a human life was at risk. What follows eventually is the occultism to an extent that I would not have expected. But seeing Gebbe and her picture I am not too surprised. So yeah, initially white magic, but finally black magic are factors in this film. However, do not be mistaken with the ending that the use of exorcism basically resulted in a happy ending and the girl is cured now. She may be fine for a moment, but we don't know what happens afterwards, even if the crying sequence from the cold-blooded girl is pretty spectacular. She killed animals before that and it did not do anything to her, but she cannot deal with the dead horse in the end. There surely can be talked a lot about this ending. Or about the film in general, the actions from Hoss' character in order to cure the girl. Until what point she really wannts to save the girl and from which point she wants to save herself with all the energy and fighting she put into all this. Until she collapses eventually. I would not say this is a great film or anything, but it is really solid from beginning to end. Certainly worth checking out and I think the rating here on imdb is slightly too low. Not too often the case that a general rating is lower than the one I give the film, even if the difference is minimal. Gotta dig deep here for flaws. I think that maybe the spectacular horse scene with the shooting in the end is a tad too over the top for my taste, even if there is good to it for sure too. I described this being a key moment in the protagonist's mind earllier. Oh yeah, one thing I did not like at all is the female cop who clearly does not like the protagonist, is maybe also crushing on the love interest, burt yeah she added absolutely nothing to this film and how in literally every scene she was in a way against Hoss' character felt like poor writing. We get it. Other than that, here we have a good film dealing with a woman's world crumbling as she fights for the love of a severely disturbed girl and may lose everything on the road: her possessions, her friends, her job, her health, yes her own sanity even. It's also interesting to discuss when audiences think she should have surrendered and given the girl back. For me it as the moment we find out she in a way sexually abused several other children. But even there you can see from Hoss' character's reaction that everything is forgiven. That's all now. Go see this film, it's worth spending two hours on, even if I must say that it slightly dragged here and there and 105 minutes may have been enough to. Still, without hesitation, a thumbs-up from me for the overall outcome. Positively recommended.

This film is described as a "drama" and so I watched it thinking it was purely about someone adopting a troubled child, and how difficult that can be. By the time you get to the second half, the supernatural/horror/ superstition aspects become apparent. So it isn't at all what I thought it was going to be.

The performances are solid, and pacing is good. The movie is full of atmosphere. Like all movies with the "supernatural" theme, it gets creepy, then plain silly really. Still, the way it was constructed deserves a fair rating.