Der Wald vor lauter Bäumen

Melanie is a new college graduate and is beginning her first teaching assignment. However, she is destined to fail because she is painfully unsure of herself and simply doesn't have it emotionally to be teaching kids. The bottom line is that kids walk all over her, her co-workers generally ignore her, she has almost no friends and she's miserable and alone. Because of this, it made me cringe at times to watch and I kept hoping the character would get into group therapy or find another job. However, she did not and her life continued to spiral out of control--leading to an ending that could be interpreted at least two different ways (neither of which are very positive).

This movie is a wonderful example of a fairly well made film that is very, very painful to watch. While I have a very high tolerance for this sort of thing AND I was interested in the psychological profile of the main character (since I teach psychology), I just can't see the average person sticking with this film or feeling especially satisfied by it. Now this isn't to say it isn't good or worth seeing--but it just takes a particular type of person to view it.

Additionally, I can relate because I am a teacher and I have met several teachers a lot like Melanie. Usually I try to help them out, but in some cases there isn't much you can do other than let them know you care--you can't give a spineless person a backbone or give them enough self-confidence to be able to manage an entire room filled with kids. And, in such cases, the kids usually figure this out quickly and the teacher is "toast", so to speak. Maybe this is also why I felt the movie was so painful--it reminded me of several young teachers (including one who literally had the job kill him due to his poor fit and lack of self-esteem).

Overall, this is well made and perhaps the 6 is a bit harsh, but I had to take off at least a point because it was shot on videotape (making it look cheap) and because of its very, very limited appeal. Still, for lovers of edgy independent and foreign films, it might just be worth a look.

"The Forest For the Trees" tells the story of Melanie, a young woman who sets off for a job as a teacher in the big city. She is idealistic and thinks (as most new teachers do)that she knows more than the experienced teachers because she has just come from college and she knows "new" techniques, when experience is the ONLY teacher. But I digress...Eva Loebau does a marvelous job portraying Melanie, who can constantly be counted on to say the wrong thing, both in her professional and in her personal life! We watched and cringed as Melanie made faux pas after faux pas, never seeming to learn, and being too proud to ask for help! As to the ending, the director (we saw this at a Sundance screening, and the director came up on stage for Q and A afterward) said that the end was meant to be more symbolic than literal. I didn't really think there would be another credible way to end the story, and thought that the director did an awesome job in this, her first film.

Maren Ade's debut. I wasn't expecting too much out of this one, since it doesn't have much of a reputation and I didn't really like Ade's sophomore feature, Everyone Else. I did like her third film, Toni Erdmann, but I kind of figured that was a major step forward for her. To my surprise, I found Forest for the Trees to be her best work so far. Shot on video, this is the story of a lonely, young teacher (Eva Löbau). She isn't too good at her new job, and she's not too good at life outside of school, either. Her 9th grade students walk all over her and the only friendship she can strike up is an awkward one with her neighbor. Löbau's neediness is exacerbated by work stress, and her friend soon grows annoyed with her. As someone who dipped his toes into teaching, I felt like this would have been my experience and, even though I spent a lot of time learning how to do it, I abruptly decided it was not for me. This situation is one of my nightmares, and I felt every painful moment of this film like a needle in my flesh. The film might have seemed perfect to me if not for the sort of cheap, magical realism ending. It's unpleasant, but truthful. Outstanding.

I thought this film was very well made given what was probably a very small budget. The acting was very fine, and the story was painfully realistic in many ways. I got it from the local library because it was about a young teacher. My wife teaches so I thought she might like it. Fortunately I watched it on my own first, and decided that she would probably find it very disturbing because of the realities depicted, but frustrating because of the inability of the young teacher to do what was necessary to help herself.

I found myself very moved by the young teacher, and had the feeling that I'd like to help her through her difficulties...difficulties revealed to the viewer, but ones she was unwilling to admit or express to those who might have helped her in the film.

Eva Loebau plays Melanie, an almost socially retarded young teacher who moves to Karlsruhe to begin her career. Her shyness and painfully embarrassing inability to read people makes for one social and career error after another.

She awkwardly befriends a hip and attractive neighbor and then, with her pathetic neediness and constant visits (not to mention her failure to understand subtle interpersonal cues) drives the neighbor to hate her. This, coupled with her legion of problems at work, precipitates Melanie's mental breakdown.

The subject matter, direction, and Loebau's acting makes the film VIBRATE with unease and tension which makes parts of the film almost impossible to watch. Add to this the fact that it was shot on video, giving it a "you are there" realism, and you may need a shot of homemade schnapps to keep from squirming.

A.