Benni

To me, this movie was comparable in some ways to "The Good Son" from the 1990's with Macaulay Culkin and Elijah Wood. The difference between Benni and Culkin's character though is that Benni does not act out just for the thrill of it or the purpose of acting evil. She is just a girl with major mental health issues, which appear to more than likely be the result of schizophrenia. She has violent outbursts that she can't control and you can tell throughout the movie that she wants to change but is unable to do so at that stage in her life.

On top of the out of control mental outbursts, she is thrown into ever changing situations and environments that it seems would only confuse her and make her healing process more difficult. The doctors cannot seem to find the proper medication to balance her out and at one point even prescribe her a schizophrenia medication that is meant for adults, and she is only nearly 10 years old. As far as that part goes, I travelled that path myself as a child with being prescribed medication that is meant for adults at that age and it does not do your mental health any good when you are a child to take medicine that is designed for someone who's brain is further along in development.

This is a very powerful film. If you yourself have struggled with mental illness from a young age, you will probably find yourseld relating to certain aspects of this movie as I did. Its definitely worth a watch.

I'm glad I watched this movie in Hong Kong. It reminds me how I overcome my broken childhood by myself. Problem families should have more concerns and facilities for their children. Children will grow up happily and become strong adults. This's a lovely German movie. Thank you.

This movie is so shocking realistic. I work with kids like Benni everyday. Watch it, it will be worth it. It makes you cry, you will feel the despair of the girl and the responsible adults. The acting of the girl is outstanding.

I saw the world premiere of this movie at the 69. Berlinale and I was really surprised about it. I'm so happy to see, that some rare German Directors can create much better stuff than the typical Till Schweiger comedy movies. This movie is totally different, very intensiv and emotional. I wished we will get more of this in the future.

Directress Nora Fingscheidt had previously only worked on documentaries and it shows - in a wonderful way. Best described as hyper-realistic cinema, the movie is a "slice of life" experience spanning only a few weeks of the trying life of 9-year-old girl Benni and everyone involved in it.

It is never made quite clear (at least not comprehensively) what exactly it is Benni is suffering from, but that's not essential to a non-professional audience anyway. To a layman, it appears to be a form of mental instability that requires intensive professional care and medical assistance. However, neither seems to be sufficient treatment as Benni's mood heavily fluctuates between moments of relative calmness and aggressive hypomania all throughout the movie. As a consequence, she's constantly battling social isolation and caught in between her most human need for affectionateness and her conditions disposition of pushing everyone away from her. The movie also brilliantly displays, in what I consider maybe its strongest feat, the emotional and professional hardships everyone surrounding her experiences as a result. Even today, there's very little understanding or appreciation for social work in our society, that is, labor that does not immediately generate monetary value. The movie does its part in educating the viewer, not in a condescending way but entirely through imagery. Its multifaceted approach encompasses any and all points of view, individual motivations and emotions, the eventual judgement however is left entirely up to the audience.

The acting is undoubtably meriting all the praise directed its way and then some. Flawless across the board. It wouldn't work otherwise. Helena Zengel does a magnificent job at playing Benni, surely someone to watch for the future.

Without elaborating too much, there's one peculiar cinematographic detail I'd like to mention that stood out to me: The color palette is heavy on pink, a traditionally "girly" color, that is used in most innovative ways that can be best understood if you're familiar with Julian Schnabel's At Eternity's Gate (2018). Like Schnabel, Fingscheidt uses color to further emphasize the gravitas of certain emotional situations. As opposed to "seeing red", the young girl literally sees pink in scenes of extreme anger and distress and we, as the viewer, are confronted with a bold pink overlay blocking out everything else. One cannot help but notice the (most certainly intended) irony in using a color such as pink that is associated with cuteness and innocence and turn it into what later on in the movie has conditioned the audience to expect rage fits of the worst kind.

That is not to say that the movie represents a particularly feminine point of view. The issue is, at its core, a gender neutral one.

In short, a hearty recommendation to any serious moviegoer.