Trama

Hoping to end the stream of violence and misery on television, the idealistic filmmaker Cyrus Frisch strikes a deal with the devil and openly sets out to destroy his protagonists. How long can the viewer stay a passive accomplice?

In Vergeef me (Forgive me, 2001), Frisch set out to provoke viewers by confronting them with a level of misery that simply couldn't be ignored. The result is a fascinating treatise on abjection and self-abuse as a condition of modern society. Frisch assembled a group of outcasts - an alcoholic with multiple sclerosis, a junkie, you name it - and then put them through the wringer Jerry Springer-style, only even blunter, until they were at each other's throats in a spectacle of berserk depravity. When the film was commended for its bravery a hell-bent Frisch mounted a touring stage production featuring his cast of lost souls, knowing full well that none of them could act to save their lives. The show became a cult phenomenon. And whenever the occasional audience member accused him of exploiting his cast, the performers would angrily insist that they were happy to participate and were perfectly in control. Forgive me effectively suggests that an unspoken contract exists between society's abusers and its abused. How best to sum up this unsettling mix of shockumentary, experimental theater, and philosophical tract on ethics? How about Full-Contact Funny Games: Netherlands.—Olaf Müller