"The Edukators"
Mar. 2nd, 2006 10:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bironicIn what might be the first of three German films in three days, tonight's entry brings you:
"The Edukators" ("Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei" ["Those Fat Years Are Past"], Germany, 2004)
Characters
So there's Peter (Stipe Erceg), a 20-something activist and thrill-seeker, about six miles tall, loose dark hair and high cheekbones and narrow eyes enough that he looks faintly Asian; his girlfriend Jule (Julia Jentsch of "Sophie Scholl") with persistently messy blonde hair, fellow activist by day and long-suffering waitress by night, working her ass off and living in near-poverty to pay a 100,000 Euro debt to a multi-millionaire whose Mercedes she totalled a year ago; and Peter's idealistic best friend of 15 years, Jan (Daniel Brühl of "Goodbye, Lenin," Germany's answer to Tobey Maguire), nursing a crush on Jule and in the meantime partnering up with Peter to break into rich people's houses while the owners are away, rearrange their furniture in humorous and socially significant ways and leave cryptic notes about how they have too much money. Peter and Jan call themselves the Edukators* and not even Jule knows they're the two behind the occasional news stories.
*Except they don't, because every time "the Edukators" appears in the subtitles, they say or write something completely different and rather longer in the German.
Plot
First hour: Peter goes to Spain for the weekend, Jule loses her apartment and gets fired and tries to fix things by drinking, and Jan thinks it's a good idea to let her in on his and Peter's secret. The pair breaks into the mansion of the man blackmailing her and have a little too much fun. They realize the next day that they left a cell phone there, and when they return to retrieve it the man—Hardenberg—comes home. After knocking him out Jule and Jan call Peter, who remains blissfully unaware of their blossoming romance. Near panic, the three friends kidnap Hardenberg and bring him to Jule's uncle's cabin in the mountains.
Second hour: Lots of talking and nice scenery. The trio lay into Hardenberg for being a rich capitalist sellout who ruins girls' lives and hoards money instead of helping the poor. He takes it for a while before quietly announcing that he used to be like them in the last attempted revolution. Political debate and multiple monologues follow. Over the next few days, carefully, Hardenberg moves from captive to near-buddy. Peter finds out about Jan and Jule. Thoughts are thunk. Crises are experienced. Decisions are made. Etc.
Reaction
I quite liked it, as did my sister who watched with me. I wouldn't recommend watching it if you're restless, since it takes its time, nor if you're feeling particularly critical, since it had its share of faults. For instance it got preachy in the middle, the four of them sitting at the table arguing viewpoints, but the subject matter begged for it, and they hauled themselves out of it fairly quickly, so I found that excusable. The editing was also a bit off, with seeming moments of foreshadowing that were never fulfilled. And it featured the lamentably overused "Hallelujah" (Jeff Buckley, "Grace" version) throughout the end, sometimes breaking off only to repeat a verse or two and splice to a later segment. But the characters were all believable and the plot never spiralled into film-cliché (no showdowns on the cliff or infighting so the hostage can sneak off) or the pseudo-intellectual navel-gazing that certain indie films are prone to (see "Waking Life"), which, considering the setup, is admirable. The pacing was good as well.
I didn't find it profound, per se. It was earnest without jamming a message down your throat. If the film's intention was to stir viewers to donate their money to third-world countries or contemplate traveling to remote Mediterranean islands to screw with European satellite transmissions, then in this way it failed; I enjoyed it, but that enjoyment was separate from the characters' and the filmmaker's arguments. But it did have something to say about thinking for oneself, about disaffected youth and disillusioned middle age, and the place for revolutionaries when there seems to be little to fight for.
And—don't read this if you don't want to know part of the end—it had the foreign-film advantage of first suggesting slashiness without really calling attention to it, then alluding to it (Hardenberg remarks that he admires the trio's embrace of "free love"), and finally consummating that intimacy without making alternative sexuality the focus of the film. After walking away from Jule, socking Jan in the jaw, taking the car, wiping his hands of the abduction and getting roaring drunk, Peter returns to his friend and now-ex-girlfriend, makes up with Jan in a wonderful little vignette of roughhousing and a hug, and by the end all three have settled pleasantly into the relationship Hardenberg predicted.
And there were pretty, German-speaking people. Never underestimate the power of pretty, German-speaking people.
ETA: Heh. Maybe I should consider freelancing. Was just perusing articles on "The Edukators" at rottentomatoes.com and found a few sentiments almost word-for-word like mine. My favorite was the startling find of "It should also benefit from the presence of rising star Daniel Bruhl (Germany's answer to Tobey Maguire), cementing his growing reputation after Goodbye Lenin..." from viewlondon.co.uk. I know we were probably all weaned on the same journalistic formulae, but this is just silly.
"The Edukators" ("Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei" ["Those Fat Years Are Past"], Germany, 2004)
Characters
So there's Peter (Stipe Erceg), a 20-something activist and thrill-seeker, about six miles tall, loose dark hair and high cheekbones and narrow eyes enough that he looks faintly Asian; his girlfriend Jule (Julia Jentsch of "Sophie Scholl") with persistently messy blonde hair, fellow activist by day and long-suffering waitress by night, working her ass off and living in near-poverty to pay a 100,000 Euro debt to a multi-millionaire whose Mercedes she totalled a year ago; and Peter's idealistic best friend of 15 years, Jan (Daniel Brühl of "Goodbye, Lenin," Germany's answer to Tobey Maguire), nursing a crush on Jule and in the meantime partnering up with Peter to break into rich people's houses while the owners are away, rearrange their furniture in humorous and socially significant ways and leave cryptic notes about how they have too much money. Peter and Jan call themselves the Edukators* and not even Jule knows they're the two behind the occasional news stories.
*Except they don't, because every time "the Edukators" appears in the subtitles, they say or write something completely different and rather longer in the German.
Plot
First hour: Peter goes to Spain for the weekend, Jule loses her apartment and gets fired and tries to fix things by drinking, and Jan thinks it's a good idea to let her in on his and Peter's secret. The pair breaks into the mansion of the man blackmailing her and have a little too much fun. They realize the next day that they left a cell phone there, and when they return to retrieve it the man—Hardenberg—comes home. After knocking him out Jule and Jan call Peter, who remains blissfully unaware of their blossoming romance. Near panic, the three friends kidnap Hardenberg and bring him to Jule's uncle's cabin in the mountains.
Second hour: Lots of talking and nice scenery. The trio lay into Hardenberg for being a rich capitalist sellout who ruins girls' lives and hoards money instead of helping the poor. He takes it for a while before quietly announcing that he used to be like them in the last attempted revolution. Political debate and multiple monologues follow. Over the next few days, carefully, Hardenberg moves from captive to near-buddy. Peter finds out about Jan and Jule. Thoughts are thunk. Crises are experienced. Decisions are made. Etc.
Reaction
I quite liked it, as did my sister who watched with me. I wouldn't recommend watching it if you're restless, since it takes its time, nor if you're feeling particularly critical, since it had its share of faults. For instance it got preachy in the middle, the four of them sitting at the table arguing viewpoints, but the subject matter begged for it, and they hauled themselves out of it fairly quickly, so I found that excusable. The editing was also a bit off, with seeming moments of foreshadowing that were never fulfilled. And it featured the lamentably overused "Hallelujah" (Jeff Buckley, "Grace" version) throughout the end, sometimes breaking off only to repeat a verse or two and splice to a later segment. But the characters were all believable and the plot never spiralled into film-cliché (no showdowns on the cliff or infighting so the hostage can sneak off) or the pseudo-intellectual navel-gazing that certain indie films are prone to (see "Waking Life"), which, considering the setup, is admirable. The pacing was good as well.
I didn't find it profound, per se. It was earnest without jamming a message down your throat. If the film's intention was to stir viewers to donate their money to third-world countries or contemplate traveling to remote Mediterranean islands to screw with European satellite transmissions, then in this way it failed; I enjoyed it, but that enjoyment was separate from the characters' and the filmmaker's arguments. But it did have something to say about thinking for oneself, about disaffected youth and disillusioned middle age, and the place for revolutionaries when there seems to be little to fight for.
And—don't read this if you don't want to know part of the end—it had the foreign-film advantage of first suggesting slashiness without really calling attention to it, then alluding to it (Hardenberg remarks that he admires the trio's embrace of "free love"), and finally consummating that intimacy without making alternative sexuality the focus of the film. After walking away from Jule, socking Jan in the jaw, taking the car, wiping his hands of the abduction and getting roaring drunk, Peter returns to his friend and now-ex-girlfriend, makes up with Jan in a wonderful little vignette of roughhousing and a hug, and by the end all three have settled pleasantly into the relationship Hardenberg predicted.
And there were pretty, German-speaking people. Never underestimate the power of pretty, German-speaking people.
ETA: Heh. Maybe I should consider freelancing. Was just perusing articles on "The Edukators" at rottentomatoes.com and found a few sentiments almost word-for-word like mine. My favorite was the startling find of "It should also benefit from the presence of rising star Daniel Bruhl (Germany's answer to Tobey Maguire), cementing his growing reputation after Goodbye Lenin..." from viewlondon.co.uk. I know we were probably all weaned on the same journalistic formulae, but this is just silly.
