''Iceman'' (German: ''Der Mann aus dem Eis'') is a 2017 German-Italian-Austrian adventure drama film written and directed by Felix Randau. It is a fictional story about the life of

Ötzi Ötzi, also called the Iceman, is the natural mummy of a man who lived some time between 3350 and 3105 BC, discovered in September 1991 in the Ötztal Alps (hence the nickname "Ötzi") on the border between Austria and Italy. Ötzi is believed to ...

, a

natural mummy A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay furth ...

of a man discovered on 19 September 1991 in the

Ötztal Alps The Ötztal Alps ( it, Alpi Venoste, german: Ötztaler Alpen) are a mountain range in the Central Eastern Alps, in the State of Tyrol in western Austria and the Province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. Geography The Ötztal Alps are arrayed at ...

. The film, which was filmed in the Tyrolean and Bavarian

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

, features almost no dialogue, with a minimal amount in untranslated

Rhaetian The Rhaetian is the latest age of the Triassic Period (in geochronology) or the uppermost stage of the Triassic System (in chronostratigraphy). It was preceded by the Norian and succeeded by the Hettangian (the lowermost stage or earliest age ...

Plot

In the Ötztal Alps, more than 5300 years ago, a

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

clan has settled near a creek. It is their leader Kelab's responsibility to be the keeper of the group’s holy shrine, Tineka, contained in a wooden box. While Kelab is hunting, the settlement is attacked by three men, including Krant and his son Tasar. The attackers find the shrine and take it. The other members of the tribe are brutally murdered. The only survivor is a newborn baby. Blinded by pain and fury, Kelab sets out after the murderers on a trek through the Alps, bringing with him the newborn baby and a goat for its milk to feed the baby. He comes across a group of three men and seemingly kills two of them before realizing these are not the persons who attacked his village. They appear to be a father and son and the third man is an abductee. He decides to let the third man go. The man who he decided not to kill tries to follow him and to travel with him but Kelab instructs him to not follow him. He next meets an old man and a younger woman. They allow him to stay with them for the night and feed him by the campfire. At night, the younger woman comes to him to have sex but he rebuffs her advances. The next day he continues on his travels but he leaves the newborn baby and goat behind with the old man and woman. He catches up to the three attackers but the attackers are higher on the mountain and shoot arrows down at him. The arrows miss but one of the attackers falls off a cliff. Kelab approaches the dead body and gouges out his eyes while screaming his dead wife and son's names. The remaining two attackers get away. Kelab pursues them high into the snowy Alps. He finally comes close to them and charges them both but falls into a

crevasse A crevasse is a deep crack, that forms in a glacier or ice sheet that can be a few inches across to over 40 feet. Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the shear stress generated when two semi-rigid pie ...

. He survives the fall and he unsuccessfully tries to climb out of the crevasse. Eventually, a rope is thrown down to him and he climbs out. It is the man who he had decided to not kill who has helped him. This man looks at him and then moves on. Krant and Tasar make it home and greet the younger man's wife, Mitar. While Mitar is comforting Tasar on his wounded leg, Kelab kills him with an arrow. Kelab and Krant fight, with Kelab overpowering and killing Krant. He returns to their camp to find the Tineka and brings Krant's body to the funeral

pyre A pyre ( grc, πυρά; ''pyrá'', from , ''pyr'', "fire"), also known as a funeral pyre, is a structure, usually made of wood, for burning a body as part of a funeral rite or execution. As a form of cremation, a body is placed upon or under the ...

. During the night, Mitar tries to kill him. Kelab sets off again into the high alps and is suddenly struck by an arrow shot by one of the two men from earlier, completing their own revenge. Kelab rolls down the mountainside before dying in the deep snow.

Cast

Jürgen Vogel Jürgen Peter Vogel (; born 29 April 1968, in Hamburg) is a German actor, screenwriter, film producer and singer. One of the most successful character actors in German cinema, he first broke out in 1992 with his role in ''Little Sharks''.Jürgen ...

– Kelab (

) * Susanne Wuest – Kisis *

André Hennicke André Hennicke (born 21 September 1958) is a German actor. He has appeared in more than one hundred films since 1984. Hennicke was born in Johanngeorgenstadt in Saxony. He was awarded a German television award for best actor for ''Something to ...

– Krant * Violetta Schurawlow – Mitar *

Franco Nero Francesco Clemente Giuseppe Sparanero (born 23 November 1941), known professionally as Franco Nero, is an Italian actor, producer, and director. His breakthrough role was as the title character in the Spaghetti Western film '' Django'' (1966), ...

– Ditob

Reception

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 86% based on 22 reviews, with a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

rating of 6.12 out of 10. The website's critical consensus reads: "A prehistoric drama with the heart of a western, Iceman uses classic archetypes – and deft direction – to tell a stark and simple yet powerfully effective story." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a score of 52 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Accolades

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 5907748
Der Mann aus dem Eis
2010s adventure drama films German adventure drama films Italian adventure drama films Austrian adventure drama films Films set in the Alps Films set in prehistory 2017 drama films Prehistoric people in popular culture 2010s German films