In early 18th century an African slave boy is chosen by a European Comtesse to be baptized and educated. Reaching adulthood, Angelo achieves prominence and soon becomes the Viennese court mascot until he decides to secretly marry a white woman.
Production
Stuffy baroque interiors that feel increasingly like a cage.
Acting
Makita Samba's silent resistance through perfect compliance.
Costume
The visual evolution from 'pet' to performer to prisoner.
Director
Markus Schleinzer
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Angelo Soliman was a real person — a Freemason and intellectual who was skinned and stuffed after death, then displayed in a museum until 2007. The film deliberately avoids this ending.
Director Markus Schleinzer cast mostly non-professional actors and used historical texts verbatim for dialogue, making the casual cruelty feel authentically period-accurate and therefore more devastating.
LU
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