System Crasher

Directress Nora Fingscheidt had previously only worked on documentaries and it shows - in a wonderful way. Best described as hyper-realistic cinema, the movie is a "slice of life" experience spanning only a few weeks of the trying life of 9-year-old girl Benni and everyone involved in it.

It is never made quite clear (at least not comprehensively) what exactly it is Benni is suffering from, but that's not essential to a non-professional audience anyway. To a layman, it appears to be a form of mental instability that requires intensive professional care and medical assistance. However, neither seems to be sufficient treatment as Benni's mood heavily fluctuates between moments of relative calmness and aggressive hypomania all throughout the movie. As a consequence, she's constantly battling social isolation and caught in between her most human need for affectionateness and her conditions disposition of pushing everyone away from her. The movie also brilliantly displays, in what I consider maybe its strongest feat, the emotional and professional hardships everyone surrounding her experiences as a result. Even today, there's very little understanding or appreciation for social work in our society, that is, labor that does not immediately generate monetary value. The movie does its part in educating the viewer, not in a condescending way but entirely through imagery. Its multifaceted approach encompasses any and all points of view, individual motivations and emotions, the eventual judgement however is left entirely up to the audience.

The acting is undoubtably meriting all the praise directed its way and then some. Flawless across the board. It wouldn't work otherwise. Helena Zengel does a magnificent job at playing Benni, surely someone to watch for the future.

Without elaborating too much, there's one peculiar cinematographic detail I'd like to mention that stood out to me: The color palette is heavy on pink, a traditionally "girly" color, that is used in most innovative ways that can be best understood if you're familiar with Julian Schnabel's Van Gogh, a las puertas de la eternidad (2018). Like Schnabel, Fingscheidt uses color to further emphasize the gravitas of certain emotional situations. As opposed to "seeing red", the young girl literally sees pink in scenes of extreme anger and distress and we, as the viewer, are confronted with a bold pink overlay blocking out everything else. One cannot help but notice the (most certainly intended) irony in using a color such as pink that is associated with cuteness and innocence and turn it into what later on in the movie has conditioned the audience to expect rage fits of the worst kind.

That is not to say that the movie represents a particularly feminine point of view. The issue is, at its core, a gender neutral one.

In short, a hearty recommendation to any serious moviegoer.

This movie was really impressive, especially considering that it is the director's first feature film. Helena Zengel, who plays Benni, is such an excellent actress and she can go very far as an actress if she continue in that way. Can't wait what she is doing next.

System Crasher is an unforgiving and brutal examination of 9-year-old girl Benni, whose anger issues and past trauma hinder her from finding permanent care.

System Crasher is unforgiving because of its realism. There's no glimmer of hope. It's simply the life of a child who cannot be saved by her society. From desperate and annoyed care takers to a clueless system which fails Benni, she cannot cope with her trauma and resorts to violence and anger. Helena Zengel embodies this anger almost perfectly and manages to walk the thin line between authenticity and sympathy. You can't help but feel for her, even though she continuously screams at everyone. These screams symbolise her inner struggle and the deeply rooted pain she suffers from being abused and abanoned. With close to two hours it's a tough movie that feels longer than it is, but it's worth it and so important.

To me, this movie was comparable in some ways to "The Good Son" from the 1990's with Macaulay Culkin and Elijah Wood. The difference between Benni and Culkin's character though is that Benni does not act out just for the thrill of it or the purpose of acting evil. She is just a girl with major mental health issues, which appear to more than likely be the result of schizophrenia. She has violent outbursts that she can't control and you can tell throughout the movie that she wants to change but is unable to do so at that stage in her life.

On top of the out of control mental outbursts, she is thrown into ever changing situations and environments that it seems would only confuse her and make her healing process more difficult. The doctors cannot seem to find the proper medication to balance her out and at one point even prescribe her a schizophrenia medication that is meant for adults, and she is only nearly 10 years old. As far as that part goes, I travelled that path myself as a child with being prescribed medication that is meant for adults at that age and it does not do your mental health any good when you are a child to take medicine that is designed for someone who's brain is further along in development.

This is a very powerful film. If you yourself have struggled with mental illness from a young age, you will probably find yourseld relating to certain aspects of this movie as I did. Its definitely worth a watch.

I saw this at the Palm Springs Film Festival. It was so real I had to remind myself it was a theatrical film, not a documentary, when it was over. It's raw and moving, flawlessly directed, edited and above all acted. Not easy to view but so well worth it. It's been a week and I still think about it. I imagine it will be in indy theaters before long. If you get a chance and like truly unique films, go see it!