Following his outstanding, acclaimed documentary “I Am Not Your Negro,” director Raoul Peck tackled another culture changing, and politically charged figure in “The Young Karl Marx.” However, he takes a feature film approach this time around, but the results are no less compelling.
Starring August Diehl, Stefan Konarske and “Phantom Thread” breakout Vicky Krieps, the film traces the footsteps of Karl Marx through the Socialist movement and founding of the Communist League, as it originated in Paris during the 19th century. The drama sees Marx teaming with his wife Jenny and industrialist friend Friedrich Engels to fight for the oppressed and spark revolution. Here’s the official synopsis:
At the age of 26, Karl Marx (August Diehl) embarks with his wife Jenny (Vicky Krieps) on the road to exile. In 1844 Paris they meet young Friedrich Engels (Stefan Konarske), son of a factory owner and an astute student of the English proletariat class. Engels brings Marx the missing piece to the puzzle that composes his new vision of the world. Together, between censorship and police raids, riots and political upheavals, they will preside over the birth of the labor movement, which until then had been mostly makeshift and unorganized. This will grow into the most complete theoretical and political transformation of the world since the Renaissance – driven, against all expectations, by two brilliant, insolent and sharp-witted young men.
“A few years back, while the world was going through yet another financial crisis, I felt the need to go back to the basics: The analysis of the violent capitalist society we are still embedded in, through these three young Europeans of wealthy families (Karl, Friedrich and Jenny) who decided to change this utterly unequal world,” Peck said about his inspiration behind the film. “And they eventually did; though not the way they imagined it. I am thrilled to be working with The Orchard to bring the film to the American audience later this year.”
“The Young Karl Marx” opens on Friday, February 23rd in New York at The Metrograph and Los Angeles at Laemmle Royal, with a national rollout to follow.