Wintermärchen

Stumbled upon this director, while i was searching for filmmakers from several countries. For italy it was "pif" with "in guerra per amore", for france it was the well known francois ozon and then i found this guy here. I was attached because the poster actually reminded me of mean streets and then i watched that horrible film. It's just really terrible. Horrible actors. Horrbile everything. Cinematography. Script.. as if they had the mission to make the most unwatchable film ever, but not in terms of the story. I guess they thought it's really distubring, but at the end it turns out just to be bad regarding all film aspects. Who gives money for that? In a country that have and had directors like Wim Wenders, Werner Herzog and Fassbinder. Is there no respect to their own heritage? Do these people even watch any films? I really couldn't believe my eyes and for a second i wished i was blind. It felt like someone flatulated into my mouth. Sorry for being so harsh, but come on, people are starving in this world and this is no contribution to anything...

I just watched this on a dead Ramadan afternoon. I'm sure the three leads would consider me fair game for execution for the crime of living in a Muslim country. These three right-wing radicals had barely a brain cell between them. No philosophy and no ideals or politics. They just had hatred in their bleak hearts.

The screenplay was problematical in places. The trio seemed to be loners at first but as the film progressed it appeared they belonged loosely to a larger group of like-minded individuals. But things jumped - there was no progression or explanation - I had the impression of different sections and we just had to catch up. This was a flaw and made the film more difficult to follow.

One would have said that they were anarchic except for their targets. Relations between the three were fluid which was another thing one wouldn't have expected. The guys shared a bed and then a guy and the girl or all three.

One couldn't even say these people were radicalised or had been. What they were presented as was what they always had been - loutish and nasty and racist. They hadn't needed grooming but just a gentle push.

I watched the lot until the inevitable conclusion. It's a good film overall not a great one though. I had found it in a list of "gay" films. It's nothing of the sort - that theme's just incidental. Recommended but with a warning for the squeamish.

And it doesn't matter which season you ascribe to it (the title suggest winter time). But that is not the issue people watching this have. They have issues with how the Germans in the movie are portrayed. But this is not about saying all are the same. Actually it is what this movie is about: to not discriminate, to not take the easy way and say certain people/races/nationalities are this or that.

Having said all that, this is quite the slow burner and has a lot of violence and sex in it. Things that you may have an issue watching others do. The main characters are hard to ... follow! In the sense that you very likely feel not much sympathy for them. But that is how it should be. Their moral down spiral is for most like a car wreck. You should do something, but instead you find yourself watching it unfold ... I'm not sure the individuals here would be or could be saved by anyone though. At least when it comes to what they believe and how their brain is wired ... this is looking into a black hole and being swallowed by it.

This is not everyones cup of tea ... so if you are not into this .. that's ok! Doesn't mean the movie or you are wrong. Just watch something else instead that is more to your liking.