Zones Humides

This is probably the most raunchy picture I've seen all year. Maybe ever. It disgusted me more than, say, The Human Centipede II. No kidding. It might be 'cause I'm gay and have no affinity whatsoever with the female body, its smells, its peculiarities and its specific organic functions. If you think you've seen it all, then I suggest you watch this movie. An atmosphere that'll amuse the punk in every one of us, but nauseate our affinity with common decency. We not only get to hear a lot about intuitively nasty stuff (feces, sperm, urine, sweat, vaginal discharge, snot, anal blood,...), we also see a lot of it. Yes. See. This movie is very visceral. Some might say too visceral. I'm inclined to say the same. On the other hand, I'm just too fascinated with the (sick) way David Wnendt dares to confront us with what we all know and have. Stuff that we usually accept as extremely private and even embarrassing is brought to the center of the stage. While doing this, the movie tells the story of a girl in puberty and her desperate need for attention since her parents don't give her any. This movie transcends its mere shock value to an authentic subversive work that will claim a cult status rather sooner than later. Add some sleazy garage music from Thee Headcoatees, Joan Jett and Peaches and you've got yourself a movie like nothing you've ever seen before!

One of the grossest films I've ever seen, delving into mysteries of the female anatomy that, as a man, I might rather have left a mystery, but it's wild and original and smart. If you have a strong stomach, it's well worth attempting. Carla Juri plays a horndog 18 year-old girl with a bad case of hemorrhoids. The problem is exacerbated when she badly cuts herself shaving her butthole. She quickly enters the hospital for surgery. During the recuperation, she starts a flirtatious relationship with a cute male nurse (Christoph Letkowski) and attempts to use her hospital stay to reunite her divorced parents (Meret Becker and Axel Milberg). The butt stuff is not nearly the most disturbing part of this movie, but it manages to be quite funny and charming even while it's at is most horrifying. Unfortunately, when it arrives at a more dramatic climax, it doesn't really feel earned, so the whole film deflates a bit. Juri is absolutely amazing, giving one of my favorite performances of recent times. I was a bit disappointed that the film was directed by a man, given that it has a refreshing female point of view, but the original novel was written by a woman (Charlotte Roche), and at least one of the screenwriters was female, as well.

I came across this movie randomly as a listing on the web and decided I was going to watch it on Netflix. Considering the fact I have never watched a German movie, I started watching this with the idea that things going on in the movie were normal to Germans. I found that absurd and disgusting.

I'll later come to understand that it is the Director David Wnendt who is a bit sick, not Germany. The film then started to make sense from that perspective. A dark humor, an escape from reality and the social norms of what is approved if you will. It's a coming of age movie about a girl who is somewhat discovering herself and dealing with the divorce of her parents.

The general package is good. Like many European movies I have seen, you sort of feel attached to the characters, like you are there in the movie. The editing, music choice and colors are also warm and in tune with the film.

This movie is certainly not for everyone. If thinking of a oozing zit makes you gag, if you get queasy at the sight of blood, if you suffer from nosocomephobia, or tomophobia, or if any mention of bodily fluids instantly offends your sensitivity, i'm sorry to say you'll never get to enjoy this beautiful little movie.

If, on the other hand, you're one of those people who, like me, see Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings as a bittersweet shift from a brilliant career in gore (Braindead, Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles); if you share a morbid fascination for human anatomy (in all its scatological glory), or simply find the cultural taboos surrounding it ridiculously irrational; you'll absolutely love this movie.

Trying to describe Wetlands, to me, instantly evokes Jeunet's Amélie (as weird as that may sound). They are of course two very different movies, but in the same way, i think, as the modern tale of Sleeping Beauty is so prudishly different from the original Grimm's tale. Both movies essentially revolve around a quirky and naive young woman with family issues striving to find love and meaning in her life through the weirdest and most hare-brained schemes imaginable. And, in that regard, Carla Juni's prodigious embodiment of her character perfectly rivals Audrey Tatou's equally spectacular performance.

If you can only find the same charm in Helen's quirkiness as you did in Amélie's, and get past all the visceral lewdness, you'll find Wetlands doesn't really aim to offend or disgust, as some critics would claim. The fact is, those who could only point at that aspect of this movie, were just sadly incapable of braking through that moral wall and seeing beyond it. Some people, of course, will never be able to appreciate the beauty of a garden, because they're too repulsed by the smell of manure...

Wetlands or "Feuchtegbiete" as it is called in Germany is an adaptation from the Bestselling Novel by German Author and Ex VIVA Host Charlotte Roche! The Book was quit a scandal when it first came out due to it's honest and unadorned description of female Sexuality. Due to it's graphic sexual contend and detailed description of all kind of Taboo Themes and large numbers of Body fluids the book was deemed unfilmable. But, as it is the case with most unfilmable Books, they had to make a movie! Having never read the Book and judging from all i heard about it, i was quit surprised when i saw the Movie! The tone was much lighter then i had expected! While the Film is quit open and explicit with it's depiction of Sex, Body hygiene and social taboos like hemorrhoids, i never felt it to be repulsive or shocking. The Movie is very funny and plays mostly for laughs. Yet, by taking the Characters and there Situations seriously it also gives it some unexpected depth! Special Mention most go to Carla Juri who brings a natural charm to her Part and proofs that she can carry a movie with ease! I'm very interested to see where her career will take her in the years to come.

While certainly not for everybody i am convinced, that many people will have a good time watching this movie. Women especially should be able to identify with the lead character and will recognise many of the problems and challenges she faces throughout the Film.

Definitely one of the better Movies that have come out of Germany for quit some time!