This German fantasy film about a boy, Krabat (played by David Kross), who learns black magic from a sorcerer (played by Christian Redl) is one of the better European movies I watched recently. I love German movies and Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders and Rainer Werner Fassbinder are on the list of my favourite directors. Now I can add and Marco Kreuzpaintner who directed this movie the best possible way from a screenplay by Michael Gutmann and Kreuzpaintner. The screenplay was based on Otfried Preußler's novel of the same name, which is actually a children book but with much darker note than Harry Potter - a real riveting Faustian tale of young men seduced by the lure (and might) of black magic, happening during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) which devastated this part of the world and brought the starvation and the Plague! The story was an adaptation of an old Sorbian legend and it was simply captivating! I admired the story telling ability which was of the highest rank! Performances in the film were heartfelt and committed, especially by David Kross and Paula Kalenberg as youngsters in love and Christian Redl as the Master! Smooth camera work and great cinematography just added to the enjoyment of this art work! I wasn't too impressed with the some of the flight scenes, especially in this time of the developed CGI techniques, but 2008 was a few years ago! I'll accept that as an excuse... If you like fables as a kid you'll love this movie as an adult! Give it a go!

You could stop and start the film at any given moment and it will make no difference whatsoever. The film is unfocused and has terrible pacing, it is neither thrilling nor interesting.