Je suis Karl

The story slowly grows into a great pathos architected in a very smart way with feelings and weaknesses exploited in directions that are unexpected first and amazingly obvious in the aftermaths.

Drawing on the fears that are often attributed to immigrants, it could be easy to trigger an avalanche effect among the populations of western Europe (and maybe the western world in general) by using the new media in a poisonous way.

This movie is simply genius and does a great job in alerting possible escalations that make you think of how the same situations that brought to the second world war can be made possible today in a different sauce.

Je Suis Karl may be cliched in many respects but the movie does represent the chaos, confusion and resultant dangers of our times.

A scared, young survivor of an attack becomes another victim of a radical, extremist group plotting to shift opinion through the savvy use of social media.

For some, the film will be an eye opener about the lengths to which some groups are willing - and able - to go to further their political agendas.

Je Suis Karl is a believable story set in the backdrop of the political polarization found not only in Europe but across many parts of the world.

The movie may move slowly initially but the story picks up pace as the plot unfolds. A worthwhile film for the politically inclined film goer.

Let's first start with the most important thing: don't look at the rating.

First, look at the comment and you'll understand why the general rating is so low: people obviously didn't get it and decided to put a 1/10 just because of it.

The truth is: this movie is a very good one.

People say the acting is bad: I hope those saying that are actually producers, actors, writers because: how can they judge ? Especially knowing the actors have both very good references, as well as the creator.

People say the story is bad: well if you don't get the details and the story behind, maybe.

But if you do, what a movie!

The true face of the far-right, far from what you would initially think. How someone can come from an extreme and reach the total opposite due to a single event.

The kind of movie that will make you think about the society, politics, and maybe even yourself.

Not an easy subject matter - but the message is clear. And violence never is the answer ... uncertainty isn't either. But it is something that some people are able to tap into. If you are afraid, if you think certain things may happen, if the press is reporting on things ... you may be subject to something ... you may be used for something ... and you may become the face (or name, no pun intended) - unintentionally.

Rough on the edges and within, this has quite a few issues - again no pun intended. I wanted to watch this at the cinema, but was not able to go there. So now that it was released for home viewing, I did just that. Maybe in cinemas I would not have noticed some of the flaws, but I reckon I would have there too. The pace is a bit all over the place - still the issue at hand is more than important.

Summary

Christian Schwochow's film is a disturbingly topical dystopia, an incursion into the renewed modes and operations of the new neo-fascist youth movements in Europe and which find their replicas in other parts of the world, such as the so-called "libertarians" of Argentina. For instance. A pan-European phenomenon with TED conventions and progressive clothes and manners that will reveal, with the excuse of insecurity, his white supremacist motivations against immigrants and his vocation for power. And that raises a question: how solid do our principles stand when we become victims?

Review

After suffering a family loss, Maxi, a young student (Luna Wedler) is seduced by Karl, a young far-right activist (Jannis Niewöhnner) and introduced into a European neo-fascist youth movement.

Maxi is seduced by the beautiful Karl (a Machiavellian Jannis Niewöhnner, in a character reminiscent of the protagonist of Hater) and invites her to meet Re / Generation, an organization for "change". To what extent will someone who is processing a grief allow themselves to be used? Will it follow the path of the protagonist of the film Hadewijch, by Dumont? What ideological changes can the condition of victim produce? Luna Wedler (the protagonist of the Biohackers series) deals with an ambiguity that makes her character very interesting. The opposite of her is Alex, her father (great performance by Milan Peschel), who has other ways of processing a duel that will distance them.

Beyond some script weaknesses, Christian Schwochow's film is a disturbing foray into the renewed modes and operations of the new neo-fascist youth movements in Europe. It should be noted that the phenomenon is not limited to the Old Continent, since it finds its replica in the so-called "libertarians" of Argentina, for example.

We are far from the world of proletarian neo-fascists sons of German reunification. It is now about organizations (in this case the fictitious Re / Generation; attention with its logo) to which middle class young people adhere, many of them students, who organize conventions with TED talks and new age airs, making intensive use of social networks and who spuriously seize slogans, topics and ways of the progressive left. The mask of false progressivism does not take long to fall and show its true face, its obsession and its fanaticism: a pan-European white supremacism whose target is immigrants and which agitates the issue of "insecurity" and "change"; It is a phenomenon that does not end in watertight nationalisms because "they - immigrants - are everywhere." The film, focused on young people, leaves out of the field the economic interests that move behind and that sustain these movements and groups, very organized and with a vocation for power, and who do not repair the means to achieve it.

Je suis Karl describes a real state of affairs and goes one step further, painting a disturbingly topical dystopia.