Kriegerin

A film about right wing racism in Germany and a groan is predictable. While following the narrative of such stories, the cast and the style of the film offer a new perspective.

The film is presented in a semi-documentary style, with scenes and transitions which are more like a documentary. The near realism - or TV like visual style - makes the building of the story interesting and unpredictable.

The present is mixed with the back story of the lead character which allows for insight without her telling us because she can't.

The cast have seemingly inhabited the roles and the script and together with the camera work, which puts the audience in the center of things, adds to the directness of the film.

The story of racist violence is counterpointed with violence at other levels between the German characters and their families. In this grim environment a brief reconciliation emerges but is quickly shattered. The ending is almost poetic in an ugly place.

A very fine achievement.

Very good by all means. Done marvelously in the technical and artistic way. And did I say very touching? The movie has dark and very heavy structure. It looks so authentic that involves you easily and then make you upset. It gives a smart portrait of the local neo-nazi movement in one German town but also all the social background that causes the phenomena of it. The basis of the whole movement was actually shown through the character of the main character. The ideals of its members are the same but the inner struggles of the individuals are individual. Fight between good and bad, between love and hate depicted beautifully followed by excellent acting. I also found the music very good. Excellent work! Keep on working.

I'm certain this is going to be Germany's nominee for the Oscars.

The auteur, David Wnendt, seems to have collected a lot of true stories and pieced them together into a fast-paced, very violent, often harrowing and quite unpredictable plot.

Most of you don't know the East German neo-nazi scene. You'll ask yourself if this is really how these people live and talk. Believe me, it is. This movie is so close to reality it often feels like a documentary. I expected to sit in the cinema nitpicking, counting mistakes. I found just one. (A license plate with an "88" in it. The German license plate office doesn't allow that.) All the actors are unknowns and few of them get to shine. All the adults in this story are wooden and almost all the teenagers are idiots. Their main job is to convey total ignorance about the extent of their ignorance. They do that well. Jella Haase is very good.

But Alina Levshin is the one who's superstar material. This is her movie, and it will be remembered as her breakthrough. Two of the movie's most memorable scenes are long uncut closeups of her face, not speaking, and they're some of the best acting I've seen, ever.

Do see it. Just don't expect to sleep easily the night after.

The film is not bad and conveys a clear message. It is authentic to a certain extent. Everyone who grew up in Germany knows the neo-Nazi scene, even if it is negligibly small and insignificant. However, the focus in the film is not on National Socialism, but rather on how one distorts one's view of the world through given circumstances and perhaps also wrong decisions in the youth. The plot could just as easily have taken place in the radical left scene or any radical religious scene. At the end of the film, you'll learn why the main character slipped into the right milieu. Often it is just bad luck, for example when your caregiver and role model comes up with the wrong ideas in your childhood. But sometimes it's just the rebellion against the parents, while meeting the wrong people at the wrong moment, as the younger Svenja portrays. In the end, Marisa finally managed to create her own view of the world. The question remains whether Svenja can do this too.

There are movies worth seeing and movies which need to be seen. This is both. It's a brilliant piece of acting by the whole cast, with a stellar performance from Alina levshin, and an understated but efficient directing from David Wnendt. But it is also a frighteningly cold and accurate view of neo nazism. The routine violence and hate carried by these young individuals echoes of all the fanaticism that surrounds us today. It is a very disturbing depiction of how society is step by step going to waste, turning back to tribal models.

Despite the fact that the movie gets watched without any slowing down or loss of interest, even if it can make one feel a little voyeuristic at times, this is no easy viewing, don't expect to come out of the theater with anything resembling a smile on your face. But at lest you'll be sure to have food for thought and both a new director/writer and actress whose careers you'll want to keep following.