Horst in Translation ([email protected])
"Jag Mandir: Das exzentrische Privattheater des Maharadscha von Udaipur" or "Jag Mandir: The Eccentric Private Theatre of the Maharaja of Udaipur" or just "Jag Mandir" is an Austrian (probably because of Heller) / German co-production from 1991, so the film has its 25th anniversary this year. It was written and directed by successful German filmmaker who can also (as almost always in his films) be heard narrating occasionally. The film runs for slightly over 80 minutes and the title already says what this is about. I must say that, before watching the film, I had absolutely no idea who or what Jag Mandir was and also no idea who or what Udaipur was. And I only vaguely know what a Maharaja is. But please don't ask me the difference between a Maharaja and a Sultan. But this is also not what this documentary is about. And that's perfectly fine as we are supposed to learn about the title character's private theater in here. The documentary starts (at least in the version I watched) with a brief interview with musician, filmmaker and actor André Heller and I must say this part did almost nothing for me. This part took way longed than it should have. Maybe they had to do it, so that the film would not even run for under 70 minutes. Then, afterward, we are introduced to the Maharaja, the people who were closest to him and also to the general scenario of where we were, who the people were and finally what this film is about in general. This is the very best part of the film as, in my opinion, it was really the only part of the film where we actually learn something. Of course, listening to Herzog's voice always helps. I would rate this sequence a 6 out of 10, but everything before and after it was worse, which should explain my rating. We spoke about the "before", now lets get to the "after". It is the actual performance mentioned in the title of the documentary. In my opinion, it was way too long and I was very bored occasionally as I sat through this dragging little stage show. I did not see anything special in there I must admit and there were moments when it felt even a bit ridiculous sadly. With the latter I am referring mostly to the parts when people dressed up as and acted like animals. I can only imagine that it must have been a much better watch live if you are in the same room, but was nothing memorable at all to see on the screen. I wished Herzog could have kept this film at 50 minutes max like he did with some other of his works. So yeah, I think enough has been said. If you look at the number of votes, you will see that this is one of Herzog's films that has not really been seen by many and lets be honest: Those who have not seen it have not missed anything really. I give it a thumbs down, one of Herzog's very few films that ended up disappointing me.
