Strong and Moving!

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

"Jesus Christus Erlöser" or "Jesus Christ Saviour" is a German documentary from 2008, but the contents depicted in here are a lot older, namely from the early 1970s. It is all about infant terrible Klaus Kinski giving us his take on Jesus Christ, the Bible and the New Testament. With this controversial topic and a man like Kinski in charge, you can already imagines how it would turn out. It is a one-man show by Kinski and his performance is constantly interrupted by audience members trying to provoke the artist. And it would not be Kinski if he did not have some nice words for the people disturbing his performance. Occasionally audience members move to the stage and (try to) say a few words. Kinski (in his 40s here) interrupts the show on several occasions and finishes it very late at night in front of a really small group of audience members, those who stayed until the very end. You could certainly criticize the audience on many occasions here and Kinski's reactions or material are also far from flawless, but isn't this exactly what theatre makes so interesting?I am talking about the clash of differing opinions and how they occasionally manage to co-exist and occasionally don't manage to do so. And completely aside from this, I must say I was extremely well-entertained during these 85 minutes. Say what you want about Kinski (and his personal life), but pretty much nobody back then had such entertainment value thanks to his ability to polarize. A big thank you to filmmaker Peter Geyer for using the material from this performance and putting it together into this extremely memorable piece of art. Highly recommended.

This is an exhibit of a very disturbed man, who was part genius, part eccentric and part mad but a true (100%) Artist. Klaus Kinski was a very good actor and he tried this "show" called Jesus Christ Saviour. Many people think he was trying to be Jesus (or impersonating him). That is one way to look at it of course, but I think he tried to convert the bible (New Testament) into modern times. Most of the things he says here, are included in the Bible. This movie being a documentary that actually has no voice over, but only Kinski doing his monologue, though very often interrupted by some members of the audience.There is so much to be said, about a man that evidently thinks he was better than most other people, who also thinks he was misunderstood. The latter being of course more than true, but his erratic behaviour didn't help much either. But this "concert" (let's call it that) on display here, actually had some valid points. You almost wish people would not have interrupted him, making him go offstage a couple of times. Still returning after a while, but why would you do that? You don't go to the Opera and shout at the actors, now do you? Either like what you see or leave the room.The fact, that he was able to switch from (almost) normal to maniac rage, made him so appealing to many. A controversial figure in German film history, he definitely will make you want to know more about him ... Which would lead you to the movie "Mein liebster Feind", where Werner Herzog talks a lot about his "favorite" actor. Watch this and be amazed (and frightened maybe), by one of the best artists German cinema has produced!

One of a kind film record of a performance of Klaus Kinski of a spoken word piece on Jesus. Kinski hoped it would result in a tour, it ended up becoming a legendary evening of failure and triumph.The problem was that in 1971 the audience was more interested in challenging Kinski then listening to what he was saying so they mistook his desire to deliver his piece on Jesus and his teachings as Kinski's call to be proclaimed Christ reborn. It was an on again off again affair that lasted until past 2 AM when alone with 100 people Kinski finally got to deliver the full piece.The film was pieced together from an audio recording and the film shot that night to record the event.Its an intense emotional film where we watch the mob attempt to destroy the performer. As Kinski is quoted as saying at least they let Jesus speak before they nailed him to the cross. The performance filmed with few cut aways is possibly the most intense Kinski performance you're ever likely to see.The piece Kinski wrote to perform is a masterful restatement of what Jesus is and is perhaps as clear a statement of why God isn't listening as one might ever get.Its a wonderful record of what happened and it's you are there feel is just as frustrating as the jerks who need to speak wreck what should have been a magical evening.Possibly one of the best filmed records of any event you're likely to see, it contains a brilliant performance by Klaus Kinski as you are ever going to see, speaking some of the most enlightening words that almost no one has ever heard.If you can go with the bumps of the night this is a must see.

Klaus Kinski is still a name that arouses interest and emotions. His unusual looks, not unattractive, but with very sinister eyes, made him a perfect villain in many silly Edgar Wallace based thrillers made in Germany or some better parts in Spaghetti Western. In the seventies and eighties he got roles in more important films by respected directors. All this is the work he is most remembered by.To this day most people don't know that he started his career by recording readings of world literature. In a time span of about four to five years he made 32 records. And he toured the country with his recitations. This work got very high praises and made him well known.He would have done very well on stage too, but the film paid much better. His strange looks, expressive voice (well trained by the readings) and his cool attitude made him quickly famous. But this fame had its price. Soon his roles in film were mixed up with the person Kinski himself. Sure he had something to do with this. Being very sensitive and easy to hurt he was always ready to attack before he got attacked. The tabloids connected his behavior with his portraits of psychopathic killers and sold him as slightly crazy. It was easy to get him up the wall. This image stood in his way when he wanted to do serious work.At the beginning of the seventies after doing an endless string of movies he wanted to pick up were he had left and start recitations again. Always being intrigued by great personalities he wrote thirty pages of text, mostly direct quotes from the New Testament, about Jesus Christ. He rented the Deutschlandhalle in Berlin, Germany, and had a full house with 5000 listeners. He was so full of hope that he would start a new chapter in his career that he had a team of cameramen to film bits of the recitation for further use.But it was the time of the 68' generation, and Kinski had no part in their agenda. He was over 40 already and for them an old man. He did not know what was to happen on this evening. Spoiler from here on:Even before he delivered the first lines of text, insults were shouted and did not cease for the rest of the official performance. The insults were not aimed at the text but at Kinski and his life. Several times he stopped reciting and shouted back at the riff-raff, as he called them. He left the stage several times, swearing not to come back, but, unusually for him, he returned, starting from the beginning or picking up where he had stopped.Watching and listening to this unusual and never before seen document is heartbreaking and aggravating at the same time. I was never a great admirer of Klaus Kinski, but here I did respect and feel with him, because, beside all his outbreaks at the attackers, you can clearly see, he wanted desperately to get his work done and finish his project. What happens to him here he had not deserved. The attackers are few, but they never stopped for long. After several breaks Kinski called the evening off. Most people went home but about a hundred remained and for them he started from the very beginning and finally managed to finish without interruption at about two o' clock in the morning.His reciting of the text is fantastic, the aggressive atmosphere only seems to fuel his expression, he often uses the phrases he quotes as a weapon against the agitators.The director of this documentary had nothing to do with the filming, he was five years at that time. But he managed to puzzle together all the bits of film that were exposed and luckily could also get hold of the entire sound tape from the Deutschlandhalle, who had forgotten to close their microphones after the official event ended. Kinski never did anything with the material, so it is completely unknown. This film is a truly moving document of a great performer under unusual and very trying circumstances.