In the 1980s, "handsome Klaus" was one of the most dazzling figures in Hamburg's neighborhood and went down in history as the leader of the Luden Gang Nutella Gang. The Prime series "Luden" with Aaron Hilmer in the leading role is dedicated to him.
Klaus Barkowsky's unprecedented and dubious career on Hamburg's Reeperbahn began as early as the 1970s. The later head of the self-proclaimed Nutella gang first works in one of the wicked bars, where he takes over the management shortly afterwards. In this way, "beautiful Klaus" advances to become the most important and influential figure in St. Pauli. After there were already some documentaries about the pimp and brothel owner on public television, Amazon Prime is now dedicating a partly fictionalized mini-series to him. The books are by Niclas J. Hoffmann, Peter Kocyla, Vivian Hoppe and Rafael Parente, directed by Laura Lackmann and Stefan Lukacs.
It tells the story of up-and-coming Klaus (Aaron Hilmer) in the 80s. The Reeperbahn is a meeting point for people - especially men - from all over the world. The sexual revolution is celebrated around the Große Freiheit and Herbertstrasse as if there were no tomorrow, but above all no women's rights. Drugs like coke and heroin are the order of the day, and the disco wave spills over the neighborhood and its clubs. The clever Klaus recognizes the signs of the times and knows that the moment has come when everything is possible for someone like him. He wants to make as much money as possible in the milieu as quickly as possible, using any means possible.
He falls into the prostitute Jutta (Jeanette Hain), who is about twice his age, who has had enough of her brutal pimp and from now on prefers to be protected by the feminine Klaus. Together with her and two school friends, he gradually builds up a small but ever-growing empire - despite all resistance and his physical inferiority to the competing Luden-Vereinigung GMBH. However, he and his Nutella gang don't always have things under control as it would be necessary for a smooth business process, so that fierce turf wars ensue and Klaus sometimes has to take it. When the HI virus made life and work in the neighborhood more difficult, new ideas were needed to continue to make a big buck out of prostitution.
At the time, the Hamburg neighborhood produced numerous well-known pimps, but Klaus Barkowsky was probably the most dazzling of all these shady characters. Also known as "Lamborghini-Klaus", it is not without reason that he has been the focus of this series, which is based on true events but also leaves plenty of room for changes and additions.
It is said that Barkowsky treated his women less brutally than others in his profession. But he knew every pimp trick to manipulate her and get her where he wanted her. To where they made him the most money. And so the serial Klaus also plays with the feelings of women and makes them docile with charm and attention rather than with beatings. He is a womanizer and yet his portrayal always seems like a laughing stock that you can't really take seriously.
Because the series does not come without clichés, and sometimes everything seems a little exaggerated and stilted. Like the extreme Hamburger Schnack from Klaus in Boots or the permanently smoldering aggression that is in his buddy Andi (Henning Flüsloh), who smashes everything to pieces at every opportunity. Nevertheless, thanks to the equipment, image design, editing and music, "Luden" spreads exactly the atmosphere in which one likes to imagine the neighborhood from back then. Located somewhere between glamor and the gutter, between a disco ball and a heroin shot, violence and affection, longing and disillusionment. The latter takes place in particular with the help of runaway Manu (Lena Urzendowsky), who is looking for her mother in the neighborhood and is in danger of slipping deeper and deeper into the swamp.
The events are narrated from the off by Jutta, a tragic character who has gotten old in the neighborhood, belongs to the old iron and yet always seems a little out of place. Her story underlines how much the environment in which you grow up influences your own career. But she is also the one who creates a balance with the pimp Klaus, who is portrayed too positively, too dazzlingly, too amusingly. Because in the end it's women like her who have the men under control and manipulate them instead of the other way around.
"Luden" is a series that bravely plays with the neighborhood's past, dares to do a few things, goes beyond borders and, despite a few cliché traps into which it falls, has a high entertainment value and emotions of all stripes.
"Luden" has been available on Prime Video since March 3rd.
(This article was first published on Friday, March 03, 2023.)
