View Content #1624
| Contentid | 1624 |
|---|---|
| Content Type | 1 |
| Title | German Film at Cannes: The Edukators. |
| Body | German film's political message resonates at Cannes Politics took center stage at the prestigious Cannes film festival this week as a German film about youthful idealism and its power to change the world became a top contender for the Palme d'Or best film award. Director Hans Weingartner's "The Edukators" ("Die Fetten Jahren Sind Vorbei") was a hit among audiences and critics alike, winning both a 15 minute standing ovation at its official premiere on Monday and glowing reviews in the industry's most important papers. The influential Hollywood Reporter, for example, called the movie a "rare beast, a terrific movie that boasts intelligent wit, expert storytelling, delightful characters and grown-up dialogue plus suspense and a wicked surprise ending." The first German film to compete at Cannes in over a decade, "The Edukators" follows three 20-something radicals who raid wealthy homes, rearrange the furniture inside and leave behind notes berating the owners with messages like "You have too much money." When the three are eventually surprised by one of the homeowners, a wealthy businessman with a leftist past, they take him hostage, setting the stage for a clash of generations and ideologies. Weingartner, an Austrian who learned his trade in Germany, said his film explores the fate of political activism in an age when politics and advertising are ever more closely aligned. "We don't know where to put our revolutionary energy and we don't know how to fight the system because we can't grab it, we don't know how to attack it," he told reporters. "The system has become so invulnerable because it sells revolution to us." "The Edukators" rides the wave of the recent international success of German films like the box-office hit "Good Bye, Lenin!" and "Head On," the first German film to win the Golden Bear top prize at the Berlin film festival since 1986. Indeed, Weingartner casts "Good Bye, Lenin!" star Daniel Bruehl in the role of Jan, a brooding revolutionary who falls for his friend's girlfriend. Along with Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11," an angry critique of the Bush administration's policies in Iraq, "The Edukators" has hit a nerve at Cannes in a year when striking film industry workers demonstrated at red carpet premieres. With critics calling the political current in this year's festival the strongest in years, "The Edukators" is said to be among the leading contenders for the prizes that a jury headed by U.S. director Quentin Tarantino will hand out at the close of the 12-day festival. For his part, Weingartner is happy just to be in Cannes for the huge festival. "I hope through Cannes our film will reach a lot of people and will have an effect," he said. "I don't expect that it's going to win a prize. That would be just too much for me. I think I would just go crazy, I would explode." Cannes Film Festival link: http://www.festival-cannes.fr/films/fiche_film.php?langue=6002&id_film= 4201604 Grosvenor, E., Borsare, B. (editors). The Week in Germany from May 21, 2004. The Week in Germany. twig2@germany-info.org (21 May 2004). |
| Source | The Week in Germany |
| Inputdate | 2004-05-21 14:01:00 |
| Lastmodifieddate | 2004-05-21 14:01:00 |
| Expdate | Not set |
| Publishdate | Not set |
| Displaydate | Not set |
| Active | 1 |
| Emailed | 1 |
| Isarchived | 1 |
