Franz Kafka began to work in a novel he referred to as Der Verschollene (the missing man) in 1912. The work was published in 1927, three years after Kafka's death by his friend and amanuensis Max Brod, who did some heavy editing of the manuscript pages and changed the title to Amerika. The book was possibly incomplete, Kafka having stated his intention of adding more chapters. It deals with the travails of 16 year old Karl Rossmann, expelled from his father's house in Germany and sent to America after being seduced by a maid in an encounter that left her pregnant.

The scenario of Karl's adventures is Amerika, a nightmare version of America with enormous, forbidding buildings shown in long lateral dolly shots, monstrous industrial structures with no relation to people, streets either deserted or traversed by grotesque political parades and highways without beginning or end with cars speeding in both directions oblivious of each other. In Amerika, Karl endures numerous setbacks; he falls from grace with his uncle and is betrayed and humiliated time and again by false friends. However, he is also helped by the kindness of various strangers and he never loses his good nature or his desire to help others. Karl ends up finding work in an enormous traveling circus/theater called the Great Theater of Oklahoma and the last scene in the novel shows him watching the landscape from a window of the train that is transporting the entire Theater towards the West.

In spite of its reputation as incomplete, Amerika has a definite ending. The register changes abruptly when Karl applies for a job at the Theater. Conflicts and frustrations disappear, and the Theater (qualified by Kafka as "almost unlimited") has a place for everyone, regardless of abilities. This suggests that the Theater is either Paradise or its earthly introduction. This interpretation is in fact Kafka's own; in conversation with Brod he insinuated that the Theater was Karl's mission, his freedom, his destiny and that he even saw there again, as if by heavenly magic, his parents and his homeland.

Directors Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet have chosen a different, Marxist interpretation. According to them "For Kafka, the law has nothing to do with God, it is the law of classes and the separation of society in classes." Within this framework, Straub and Huillet peculiar direction make sense.and the hero's adventures may be understood in terms of class differences (which explains the title). Actors deliver their lines in a stilted, unnaturally clear diction that somewhat suits the dialogue, where logical constructs are built upon absurd foundations. All in all, the movie delivers a fresh view of the novel. Two objections: the Statue of Liberty in the novel (but not in the movie) wields a sword, not her usual torch and the almost paradisiacal landscape in the last scene of the novel comes out on film as a somewhat dull view of the muddy Missouri River.

"Klassenverhältnisse" or "Class Relations" is a West German 2-hour film by French filmmakers Huillet and Straub and they are known to make movies in all kinds of languages, such as English, Italian, French or German like this one. It is one of their more known works for sure and the lead actors here are Christian Heinisch and Nazzareno Bianconi, two actors that never appeared in another film again and are this pretty much entirely unknown day in the 21st century. The exact opposite is Mario Adorf, one of the most successful and most prolific Swiss actors ever, who played in Academy Award winning films. This film here is from 1984, so it is over 30 years old already, but by then black-and-white films were definitely a rarity already and here this choice for lack of color was probably a creative decision. But it adds almost nothing I must say.

In general, I felt this was a very uninspired work. There is a decent moment here and there like the boy being sad about losing the only picture of his parents, but these moments are hurt by the extremely wooden line delivery by all the actors, especially lead actor Heinisch. I cannot imagine that experienced filmmakers like Huillet and Straub would not have recognized it or cast him, so they are probably the ones to blame as they wanted it that way. The result is a film that feels like a theater play for the most part, but I must say this problem with the dialogues as well as the extremely boring and dragging story made this almost a painful watch. And even beyond the talking, with focus on the body language, the acting isn't really any better. There is no denying that Huillet and Straub are not easy to find an access to as an audience member, but if you start with this film here from their body of work, you will probably have zero interest in checking out another work from the duo. I was genuinely bored here and I could not wait for the film to end. Highly not recommended.

Pretty good. Was surprised to find out about this one. Very rationalistic film making. Kind of Brechtian. I am really fond of the way the actors just recite their lines as opposed to act them, i also really liked the way it was shot, its static quality was very comforting for me even though this film is anything but comforting. It has, like everything i have read so far from kafka, this nightmare-ish feel to it. Everything always spirals down, everyone is alienating and confusing, every action has a undoable consequence. This time however, it is all in the context of a german immigrant in the united states who, deprived of his nationality becomes a sort of sub proletariat. But being him from a bourgeoise bringin he refuses to accept that fate which only makes thing worse for him. To me the point seems to be the impossibility of a decent living under the capitalist system or at least the easiness of the marginalization by it. The film was really good, i am really glad i got to see it. It is a really tough watch though. The scene where he is let go of his job in the hotel was one of the most frightening scenes i have ever watched in my whole life.