"Der grosse Bagarozy" or "The Devil and Ms. D" is a German 95-minute movie from 1999, so two more years and this one will have its 20th anniversary. It was the last career effort as director for Bernd Eiching and he really wasn't that often the man in charge behind the camera. He worked on screenplays more often and he did so here as well, but his most known profession is of course producing films. Honestly, I need to say this film is a good example of why he just didn't have it as the man in charge of the creative process. I have not read the Helmut Krausser novel this film is based on, but I'd be surprised if it is as weak as this one here. Then again the film is not a failure by any means either. The first 75 minutes or so were fairly decent. Yes it had some lengths as basically all the involvement of the audience here is guessing if Schweiger's character is really the devil. And honestly all the solutions and plot twists in the last 20 minutes were really bad and hardly made any sense at all, like the way Harfouch's character goes and shoots Heinze's.
Okay, now I already mentioned the two main lead actors here and I think they aren't too bad. Schweiger is probably the film's MVP and that surprises me as usually he is not the most gifted actor. So it is a bit of a shame that the other material is not convincing enough to go with Schweiger's solid performance. Then again, the character fit him really nicely too. That much is safe. You can check the cast list to see who else is in here and German film buffs will certainly recognize one or the other. So what good is here to take from this film? It may get you interested in the music of Maria Callas as honestly her performances we listen to on several occasions and she is as great as they make her out to be. But beyond that, there are just not enough good moments at all. So yeah, it was definitely a prestigious project in terms of who made this and who starred in it, but I am not surprised this one did not receive any awards recognition at all. Well honestly I kind of am because of the prestigious element I already mentioned and honestly way worse films have received many more awards (recognition). But yeah with this ending I just cannot give it more than 2 out of 5. I may have and I may have also given it a cautious thumbs-up with a better solution at the very end. The way it turned out I don't. Don't watch.
Okay, now I already mentioned the two main lead actors here and I think they aren't too bad. Schweiger is probably the film's MVP and that surprises me as usually he is not the most gifted actor. So it is a bit of a shame that the other material is not convincing enough to go with Schweiger's solid performance. Then again, the character fit him really nicely too. That much is safe. You can check the cast list to see who else is in here and German film buffs will certainly recognize one or the other. So what good is here to take from this film? It may get you interested in the music of Maria Callas as honestly her performances we listen to on several occasions and she is as great as they make her out to be. But beyond that, there are just not enough good moments at all. So yeah, it was definitely a prestigious project in terms of who made this and who starred in it, but I am not surprised this one did not receive any awards recognition at all. Well honestly I kind of am because of the prestigious element I already mentioned and honestly way worse films have received many more awards (recognition). But yeah with this ending I just cannot give it more than 2 out of 5. I may have and I may have also given it a cautious thumbs-up with a better solution at the very end. The way it turned out I don't. Don't watch.