En colère

A real sucker for any sort of German film (yes, even a television one), I was very pleased to encounter Wut being shown here on Irish television. Claiming to deal with themes of racism and identity within society, I happily sat back to watch.

Can is a Turkish teen living in Germany. One of two sons living with his elderly father, he is something of a mischief maker. He supplies drugs to the notably better off Felix, achieving laughs and entertainment at the expense of the upper class boy. Eventually, Felix's father learns of Can's escalating bullying of his son, and steps in to stop it.

Wut effectively portrays racial and class barriers in modern German society. The interaction between Felix and Can is fully believable, Can's sinister aura wonderfully hair-raising. Key to the film, the anti- hero is given humanity: a very powerful device which allows us to sympathise with him to a degree, giving us much to think about and forcing us to question the actions of some of the "more moral" characters we might traditionally find ourselves rooting for. The father's gradual realisation that he is all but powerless to stop the oppressive gang leader is an idea well conveyed by the emasculated performance of August Zirner. Felix's slow but steady idolisation of the powerful alpha-male who acts with far more paternal influence and masculinity than his father ever could has us biting our nails and worrying uneasily where the story will take us. Its eventual twists and turns are unforeseen, shocking, and tangibly dramatic, leading us to an interesting climax. In itself, however, the climax is somewhat lacking and flawed, though intriguing. The film achieves its intention, successfully acting as a catalyst to consideration, but not without bumps along the way.

Though marred by certain problems and not consistently gripping, Wut does encourage us to consider the message at its heart. The true appeal of the film lies in Felix's falling for the serpentine hissings of Can, fuelled by his disillusion with the world around him. Quite enjoyable as a whole, you could find far worse ways to spend time than watching Wut.

"Wut" is definitely a masterpiece! And in my opinion it is unworthy for such a good drama to just play it in television. This film is a socio-critical drama, which describes a social focus in our society. Most of the German dramas avail themselves of clichés and play down, this one here is the first movie, which shows the hard reality - even when it is very exaggerated. But this is necessary for the main message of the movie. In addition to that director Züli Aladag has found the two most impressive actors ever for these roles: Oktay Özdemir ("Knallhart"), whose acting as gang leader Can is genius and August Zirner, who gives a great performance as father, who does not know how to deal with his son's problems...

Aladag succeeded in making a critical view on the problematic situation of violence in German schools, compared with wrong integration. This movie could have also international success!

Outside Turkey, Germany is the home for the largest Turkish community in the world with several millions of people of Turkish heritage living in the country. Naturally, Turkish-German film directors have also started leaving their mark on the country's long cinematic tradition, the most important such filmmaker being F a t i h Akin who is known for movies like Head-On (2004) and The Edge of Heaven (2007). Another director who has examined the relations of Turks and native Germans in his work is Züli Aladag whose 2006 TV movie Rage raised some controversy upon its initial release in Germany.

Among the protagonists of the movie is Felix Laub (Robert Höller), the teenage son of a wealthy university professor of literature Simon Laub (August Zirner). When Felix is repeatedly bullied and robbed by a Turkish gang led by the ruthless thug Can (Oktay Özdemir), the moderately liberal Simon and his wife Christa (Corinna Harfouch) try various methods to sort out the problems between Felix and Can but only seem to make things worse. Ultimately peaceful methods cease to be the only ones considered by Simon and a dramatic showdown is inevitable.

Rage works interestingly on both general and personal levels and avoids giving easy answers to the problems portrayed. In the core of the story is the conflicting relationship of Felix and Can: the former keeps coming back to the latter despite the mistreat, but at times they get along pretty well. By hanging out with Can's gang Felix is probably rebelling against his mild-mannered father who is indeed accused of being aloof even by his wife. Under their successful surface Felix's parents are far from perfect but Can is not free of familial troubles either, although he has caused his situation himself by clinging to his self-applied tough guy image despite his inner insecurity – he is by no means a mere victim of circumstances.

Besides the grassroot level changes in the characters' attitudes, there is an underlying theme of the whole country's stance on problems related to immigration. Demands for tougher laws regarding the matter easily evoke unpleasant connotations to Germany's Nazi past, so the issue is even more sensitive there than in many other countries. During Rage's Funny Games-style finale the suspense thickens pretty excitingly and the viewer becomes anxious to find out how the situation is resolved since it would be tempting to interpret the ending as the movie's message or stance on the issue: who (if anyone) gets killed and is the act portrayed as heroic or cowardly? Without spoiling anything, the story and the mood are rather pessimistic about there being a neat little solution that would satisfy both parties.

Visually the movie is nothing very absorbing and the ending feels slightly rushed, but all in all I think Rage is worth seeing among its peers, i.e. films portraying conflict between ethnic groups. The German protagonists feel realistic enough and the gap-toothed Oktay Özdemir is a great choice for the role of the aggressive Can. I have admittedly not seen many examples of Turkish-German cinema but based on Rage and F a t i h Akin's The Edge of Heaven, there appear to be quality films to be found there.

shocking taboo-breaker! Can, a young German pusher / drug dealer of Turkish immigrant's background, terrorizes the entire family of a university teacher until the very end, beginning with son Felix (a perfect victim). I see specially the professor's woman's part within the conflict as an extremely fatal and unhelpful one, since pseudo-powerful and pseudo-emancipated. Are our liberal (over-?) civilized democracies still able to stop such destructive aggressive human beings like Can? ...Or Achmadineschad? Why could this film not been shown in the early evening (8.15 pm) as announced first? It's subject will be specially important for younger people! However, a subject overdue to deal with!

This film is definitely one of my favorite films. Especially because love movies from the years between 2005-2006. The script of the film is very good, the fight between Simon and Can in the film is well written and you can quickly see what the film is about. I would have liked the film to be longer. I also like the places where the film was shot, but what I missed were the scenes in the classroom. Actors like "Simon laub" play their roles well as well as "Can" but "Felix" is not a good choice for the role in my opinion. All in all, it's a very good film, which I give it 10 points for. Nice film!