Rohtenburg (2006)

Director:

Martin Weisz

Writer (WGA):

T.S. Faull (written by)

Release Date:

2009 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Inspired By the True Story That Shocked A Nation

Plot:

In Germany, as graduate student Katie Armstrong researches cannibal killer Oliver Hagen for her thesis...

Plot Keywords:

Cannibal | Germany | Based On Fact | Knife | Psychopath

Awards:

9 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Keri Russell	...	Katie Armstrong
Thomas Kretschmann	...	Oliver Hartwin
Thomas Huber	...	Simon Grombeck
Rainier Meissner	...	Young Oliver
Angelika Bartsch	...	Viktoria
Alexander Martschewski	...	Rudy
Nils Dommning	...	Karl
Marcus Lucas	...	Felix
Pascal Andres	...	Young Simon
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Helga Bellinghausen	...	Simon's Mom
Sigrid Burkholder	...	Mourner 1
Tatjana Clasing	...	Hanna
Stefan Gebelhoff	...	Simon's Dad
Jonas Gruber	...	Rainer
Bojan Heyn	...	Bully
Nikolai Kinski	...	Otto Hauser
Renate Naujoks	...	House Wife
Valerie Niehaus	...	Margit
Jörg Reimers	...	Oliver's Dad
Dagmar Sachse	...	Mourner 2
Sybille J. Schedwill	...	Frau Schinder (as Sybille Schedwill)
Horst Scheel	...	Prof. Zech (as Horst D. Scheel)
Pierre Shrady	...	The principal
Anatole Taubman	...	Eager Man
Axel Wedekind	...	Domino

Also Known As:

Butterfly: A Grimm Love Story (Germany) (working title)
Grimm Love (USA) (new title)

Runtime:

Germany:90 min | Argentina:86 min (DVD version)

Country:

Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

Germany:18 | Australia:R | Finland:K-18 | New Zealand:R18 | Portugal:M/18 | UK:18 | Argentina:18 | Canada:R (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Germany

Company:

Senator Entertainment Co

Trivia:

"Inspired" by the real life story of the "Cannibal of Rotenburg", Armin Meiwes, who mutilated, killed, and finally ate a man who had previously agreed to Meiwes doing just that with him. Both men met on the Internet where media subsequently discovered vast communities of people fantasizing about eating and being eaten by others sharing their "quirk".

Quotes:

Katie Armstrong: Oliver Hartwin wanted to eat someone. Simon Grombeck wanted to be eaten. They were a perfect match.

Movie Connections:

References Faces of Death (1978)

Soundtrack:

I Like Plastique

The Cannibal ate my homework ....

Both this film and Marian Dora's "Cannibal" were inspired by the unbelievably inhuman yet real-life horror case of Armin "The Rohtenburg Cannibal" Meiwes. Meiwes was a lonely and introvert homosexual who placed an internet add, looking for volunteers to get slaughtered and consumed by him. It didn't take that long before he got a response from Bernd Jürgen Brandes, another homosexual who treasured a life-long dream of having his penis chopped off and eaten. Like the script states at several occasions: these two formed a perfect match. Even though both films remain faithful to the grueling and sickening facts, they are two completely different viewing experiences. This film is more like a 'light' version of the facts (but, mind you, still shocking enough to upset people with a weak stomach), whereas "Cannibal" is a downright brutal and uncompromising film. "Grimm Love" supposedly takes place after the facts and the story is re-enacted via the research and profiling of an American psychology student (Keri Russell) residing in Germany to work on her thesis. This wraparound story is actually rather redundant, since Russell only appears on screen in order to link together all the flashbacks that build up towards the two men's fatal cannibalistic meeting. Unlike "Cannibal", this film dedicates a large amount of time digging up the men's backgrounds and illustrating their personalities. The voluntary victim Bernd Jürgen Brandes (renamed Simon Grombeck) forcefully hated the reproduction organ between his legs and apparently blamed himself for his mother's suicide, because she once caught him and another boy playing doctor. Armin Meiwes (renamed Oliver Hartwin) had issues with his mother as well, but she was more of a dominant and overly protective type. He developed cannibalistic tendencies after she died and eventually the endless opportunities of the almighty internet brought these wandering souls together. I find it praiseworthy that both films, especially considering the gruesome themes, succeed in clarifying to the audiences that this is, in fact, primarily an (unusual) love story rather than a gratuitous exploitation flick. It's a portrait of two men who're social outcasts due to their unacceptable sexual desires. This was even clearer in "Cannibal", since the two men shared all the screen time together as from the opening sequence, but even "Grimm Love" successfully reflects the affectionate and deeper relationship between the two 'monsters'. However, this movie suffers from a handful of dreadfully tedious moments and it sadly remains too vague about the disturbing things that happened after the castration. Meiwes stored Brandes' corpse on a meat hook in his basement and continued to eat his pal for several more months after the actual killing. This film only briefly mentions this little detail somewhere at the beginning. The cinematography is pleasingly dark and depressing, and the slow pacing and grim set-pieces contribute to the building up of an overall uncanny atmosphere as well. Martin Weisz' direction is subtly creepy and he clearly doesn't aim for sensationalism here. The German actors are very competent as well, even though they are for some reason forced to speak their lines in hesitant English… My main complaint regarding this production, as stated by other reviewers already as well, is the international character of the film. Why the involvement of a fictionalized American student character working on a psychology thesis? Why narrate the story through flashbacks, for that matter? Russell's role is entirely redundant and her character isn't even plausible anyway. For someone who has been obsessed and fascinated with the case for more than 3 years, she really sucks at watching graphic cannibalism on tape.