The Niklashausen Journey Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		2.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

The Niklashausen Journey Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 17, 2023

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Arrow's The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection: Volume 3.

Arrow has been curating interesting collections of Rainer Werner Fassbinder films courtesy of both The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection: Volume 1 and The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection: Volume 2, and now with this latest third volume. The first two editions offered some of Fassbinder's better known efforts like The Marriage of Maria Braun and The Merchant of Four Seasons, and while this third collection offers titles that will no doubt be known by Fassbinder aficionados, it might present more "cult"-ish productions.

Commentator Olaf Möller calls The Niklashausen Journey, another made for television effort from Fassbinder, a "collage", but he isn't necessarily referring to any one element in particular, since as Möller also states, that "combo platter" ambience suffuses everything from the story to the characters to the production design (for just one example, look at the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review and note how the costumes span several eras of human existence). Somewhat hilariously, Möller also mentions that The Niklashausen Journey may reveal one of the "flaws" in Marxist theory, in that at times the proletariat, in this case the German variety, becomes so successful that they're not really all that interested in a socioeconomic revolution. The fact that this concept should be mentioned in a film which is ostensibly about a real life 15th century quasi-false messiah named Hans Böhm (Michael König) should indicate pretty handily just how full Fassbinder's "plate" is in this film. Fassbinder's mise en scène can be absolutely fascinating in this production, with ostensibly "important" information squirreled away into the back of the frame or seen from a distance. The presentation is also both blatantly theatrical and (to purloin Fassbinder's terminology) "anti-theatrical" almost simultaneously, but intellectually this is one of Fassbinder's most arresting early pieces, even if it's undeniably screed like a lot of the time.

The Niklashausen Journey Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Niklashausen Journey is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. Arrow's insert booklet groups the films together in its informational verbiage about the restorations, as follows:

All films are presented in their original aspect ratios of 1.37:1* with mono sound. The restorations for The American Soldier, Gods of the Plague, Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven and Satan's Brew were produced and provided by the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation from original 35mm camera negatives scanned on an Arriscan film scanner at Arri Media GmbH in Munich. The Niklahausen Journey, Rio das Mortes and Fear of Fear were originally made for television, with restorations produced and provided by the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation from original 16mm camera negatives, and are presented in standard definition.

*See individual reviews, since not all aspect ratios are actually 1.37:1.

Despite the above verbiage, both BD Info and my other player softwares are showing this does have 1080p resolution, so I'm assuming the verbiage above is simply indicative of an upscale, which this certainly has the appearance of being. In some ways this has the same ragged, gritty and undefined appearance as Rio das Mortes, but there are some added issues here with some minor but observable fringing that can encircle various objects and/or people. Fassbinder's repeated use of extreme wide shots where supposed focal characters are far off in the distance can also understandably detract from fine detail levels. Several very dimly lit scenes suffer from crush and lackluster shadow definition. The palette is really remarkably robust, though, and there's a certain amount of "color theory" playing into the proceedings, as the commentary addresses. There are some recurrent red flare like anomalies that regularly afflict the left side of the frame.

The Niklashausen Journey Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Niklashausen Journey features LPCM Mono in the original German. This is a pretty relentlessly talky affair, though there are some nice scenes with the characters wandering through various locales where ambient environmental sounds occasionally dot the track. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout, and intermittent drumming from Böhm also sounds decently reverberant. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Niklashausen Journey Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Arrow has packaged The Niklashausen Journey and The American Soldier together on one disc, with the following supplements:

• Commentaries

  Commentary by critic Olaf Möller on The Niklashausen Journey

  
  

  Commentary by critic Tony Rayns on The American Soldier

• Fassbinder Produces Film No. 8 (HD; 29:06) is a 1971 television documentary about the production of The American Soldier. Subtitled in English.


• Man in the Shadow (HD; 33:58) features Michael Fengler discussing Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Subtitled in English.


• Freedom or Death! (HD; 22:57) features Michael König discussing The Niklashausen Journey. Subtitled in English.


• Image Gallery (HD)

The Niklashausen Journey Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Niklashausen Journey has the feel of a student film, which in a way it may have been, but it's rather provocative, especially for a made for television effort. Tolerance for this feature will probably hinge on acceptance of some of Fassbinder's more outré sensibilities as well as Marxist theory. Video is pretty ragged looking, but audio is fine and the supplements are very enjoyable.