THE KEEP
US, 1983, 96 minutes, Colour.
Scott Glenn, Ian Mc Kellan, Alberta Watson, Jurgen Prochnow, Robert Prosky, Gabriel Byrne.
Directed by Michael Mann.
The Keep is a very unusual film. It is a story of World War Two, German occupation in Romania in the Carpathian mountains, and also a story of a lone timeless hero who combats the powers of evil kept in the keep.
The film was produced and directed by Michael Mann (The Jericho Mile, Manhunter, Heat, The Insider, Ali and the television series Miami Vice). It is magnificently photographed in Panavision, with extraordinary sets, especially for the keep interior and exterior. It also has a range of special effects for the diabolical powers in the keep which materialise, draining energies from soldiers who guard the keep.
The film also has an unusual cast with Scott Glenn (The Challenge, The Right Stuff) as the silent hero, Jurgen Prochnow (The Boat, Dune) as the sympathetic German soldier, Gabriel Byrne (Gothic, Christopher Columbus, Defence of the Realm) as the sadistic Nazi officer and Shakespearian actor Ian Mc Kellan as the professor, Robert Prosky as a bearded local priest.
The film had mixed reviews, audiences and critics not sure how all the ingredients combined. However, it is a fascinating film for those interested in something different, in stories of the occult. There is an atmospheric score by Tangerine Dream.
1. The impact of the film? Struggle of good and evil? World War Two and Nazism? Resistance? The embodiment of the Devil? An imaginative film?
2. The work of Michael Mann? The Panavision photography, the village and the mountains? The keep, interior and exterior? The vastness? Stunt work and special effects? The creation of diabolical power, the creature and its transformation? Tangerine Dream's musical score?
3. The keep itself as the focus: keeping in the power, keeping out the spoilers? Romania, the Carpathian mountains, the Dracula traditions?
4. World War Two, the German occupying force, the soldiers and their ideology? In the mountains? The arrival, the townspeople? Woermann and his compassion? The arrival of Kaempffer and his takeover? The deaths of the soldiers, hostages and the partisans' executions? An atmosphere of terror, for the Nazis? The background of the concentration camps, the Jews and the gypsies? Nazi cruelty?
5. Life in the village: the priest and his role, the guardian of the keep and his family? The tour of the keep for the Germans? The explanations, Woermann and his understanding? The greedy soldiers and the crosses, Woermann forbidding them to take them? Releasing the power through the cross emptiness, their deaths? Plague? The arrival of the Nazi leader? Woermann's resignation?
6. Kaempffer and the Nazi type, the deaths of the soldiers, his cruelty, treatment of Woermann, explanations, suspicions of partisans? The writing on the wall? Getting Dr Cuza and his reading the writing?
7. Dr Cuza and Eva? Old and sick, belying his age? In the concentration camp group? His return? His lack of faith? The priest and the discussions? Evil appearing, transforming Dr Cuza and using him? The talisman? The release of the talisman, Dr Cuza collaborating? Getting Eva out of the keep?
8. Glaeken and his awakening, his power, the travel through Greece, present in the village? The encounter with Eva, the sexual encounter? His energy? The training? The confrontation with evil, the fight, his defeat? Climbing the cliff? Being an instrument of good? The talisman? The power of light? The effect on him? Returning to normal?
9. Kaempffer and his terror, listening to Woermann? The clash of ideologies? His shooting Woermann? The cross, his being sucked out by the power of evil? The troops?
10. Woermann as a witness and a martyr?
11. Eva and her relationship with her father, with the stranger? Dr Cuza and the challenge, his refusing, the riddle about power, his confrontation of evil, returning to his debilitated state?
12. Evil and the Devil? Inside and outside the keep? The lies? The reflection on the Nazi evil - one evil versus another?
13. The defeat of evil and the restoration of peace?
14. How effective the film as a fable? Science fiction? Gothic horror? The occult? Romance and war? A symbol of mythic battles?
