AGE OF UPRISING PORTRAYS THE EARLY CLASH BETWEEN FEUDALISM AND CAPITALISM
Michael Kohlhaas (played by Mads Mikkelsen), a 16th century trader who has accumulated considerable property and many servants, is on his way to sell two black horses and other commodities when he is stopped on a road over a bridge by a baron (Swann Arlaud). The baron demands that he surrender the two horses temporarily if he is to proceed to market. Kohlhaas agrees and also leaves his servant César (David Bennett) to care for them. But when he returns, César and the two horses have been roughed up. Kohlhaas pays a lawyer to bring the tort to the Navarre royal court but loses the case because the baron has more influence and he even sends servants to kill his wife (Delphine Chuillot). Kohlhaas then assembles a militia to overpower the baron, but the local priest (Denis Lavant) talks Kohlhaas into seeking a fair trial instead. There is mention of an earlier peasant uprising that resulted in a massacre of the commoners, so Kohlhaas courageously agrees to the trial. What ensues in the tale is what passes for justice during the age of feudalism. Directed by Arnaud de Pallières, Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas is an extraordinary if slow-moving glimpse of a now-forgotten era as told in a famous novel by 19th century writer Heinrich von Kleist. MH