About this episode

The episode discusses the 1962 film adaptation of Kafka's 'The Trial' and its themes of law and bureaucracy.

Law. It’s one of humanity’s oldest, most important systems, boasting manifestations as numerous as they are complex. From the Code of Justinian to those weird, uniform series of books you see on lawyers’ shelves, everyone can agree that the law is important but not popularly understood. In many ways, an impenetrable, interlocking structure of codes, dictates, exceptions, statutes, and other words I’m probably not using right is a little weird when you think about it, a little chaotic, a little alienating, dare I say a little . . . kafkaesque? That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, Magellans at the Movies is once again going full pretentious literary snob, this time by taking on The Trial , a 1962 Orson Welles directed adaptation of Franz Kafka’s novel of the same name. While hardly a smash on release, time has been kind to this anxious story of one man adrift in a surreal, nightmarish bureaucracy. Will it receive a favorable verdict from Nathan and Elliot, or will they sentence it to that most feared of penalties: a bad review by two random dudes with a podcast? Gavel in the proceedings and let’s find out! Contact us/Requests/Questions: MagellansMovies@gmail.com Donate…

Topics covered

• law
• Kafkaesque
• bureaucracy
• film adaptation
• literary analysis

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• The Devil Wears Prada · April 4, 2026 · 1h 6m
• Requiem for a Dream · March 27, 2026 · 58 min
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