One Way

My husband and I saw "One Way", the new movie of the German actor Til Schweiger. There were no coughing, no feet-stamping and no murmurs to hear during the whole movie. Even at the end the silence continued. Than my husband broke it, saying: "Man, what a good movie was that!" The story and the pictures are very intense. They catch the viewer's whole attention which you can hardly escape.

The topic of the movie is rape. It's about guilt and atonement.About law, morals and justice.

In a today's criticism I read the sentence: "Sometimes it is the start of a movie that gives rise to doubts. In "One Way", the movie of the Swiss Reto Salimbini, a girl is followed by several men and raped brutally, as a black figure wearing a uniform (Michael Clareke Duncan) appears and butchers the wrongdoers with a machine gun. The plot changes from this revenge-fantasy to the New Yorker world of the publicity expert Eddie (Til Schweiger)…" Now I ask myself seriously: What is so disconcerting about the imagination that the victim imagines the death of the men that are raping her? Isn't it even understandable somehow? The visualization in the movie makes the fantasy visible for the viewers - and uncomfortable. "One Way" is consequently shown from the rape victim's point of view, which is definitely not a daily mean.

In an other criticism it is said that the rape scenes are shown very drastically. So I watched them critically. My judgment: I have seen more drastically rape scenes in movies and on television before. But what is really hard to the spectator is - during the whole rape the camera is filming the victim's face. Vivid, oppressive and frightening.

The pictures do not allow any evading and phrases like "…somehow she wanted that, too…" or "It's not as bad as it seems…" are absolutely wrong and out of place. The victim is injured with great physical and psychological pain.

Is it a woman allowed to take revenge if she has been raped, humiliated and emotionally killed? If she can't trust her pretending best friend or in justice? In "One Way" two raped and humiliated women experience emotional justice in the end and an initial slime ball develops into a better man. This is more than reality can (unfortunatly) sometimes offer.

Fill the movie theaters and watch it! It's worth it! Marte Cormann, www.kinoplausch.de

I've read several reviews prior to watching the film and I really was afraid I could waste a lot of time with it and although I don't believe too much in reviews I was shocked about how bad they said the film was. However, before I read them I saw the trailer somewhere on the internet and I liked it. That's why I dared watching the movie and was rather pleasantly surprised with it. It's certainly no blockbuster but it's good entertainment and keeps interesting until the end. Especially since I'm German I'm proud of how good a German production can be nowadays compared to Hollywood movies (keep in mind the $7 million budget). Some said they considered the general as ridiculous, but he is a part of Angelina's psyche and I think it's rather obvious that victims of certain brutal crimes develop a psychic illness of some kind to bear with what they have experienced. So the biggest weakness, in my opinion, is the clearly audible German accent of Til Schweiger, but I rather smiled about it and had a good time nonetheless.

This movie proves that German star Til Schweiger can really act. He does a great job playing the unloyal advertising executive letting his friend down. I have seen Schweiger before only in campy German comedies. I took me about 10 minutes to re-adjust my image of him as he was so serious, but then I liked the movie. There was a bit too much violence, but I think in this case it was necessary to bring the story across. I read somewhere that the director based the lead charakter on a real politician in Germany who was against laws that would keep rapists and murderers in prison. I especially liked the ending, I didn't expect it - was a surprise. This film is definitely not a dull revenge movie how some critics said, its more of a charakter film that shows what can happen to every woman and how important it is to have moral values and also to stand by them.

hmmmm, yesss. From the statistics I read that US females over 30 did not like this film. Whereas the younger audience especially in Europe was thrilled. Why would this be so? The film is about rape and about revenge and how the victim feels and into what kind of situation she gets put by her surroundings. Seeing how things are, the US are very ambivalent about sexual themes. Not to say 'hypocritical'. Judging from the themes feministic theory in the US put forward in the 70ies and 80ies sexual oppression and violence are very much more of a problem when they cannot be voiced at all. This may have been different in Europe with a more liberal approach in many countries (well, not all, I believe...). Anyway, this might explain, why a film like 'One Way' will not be received so open-heartedly in the US - it is painful. And it shows parents in their relationship to their children in a very painful way. Maybe this also explains the distaste of 'elderly women' (to phrase it this way without actually implying criticism).

This much for the background. The film itself is a treat in that it shows a comparatively new side of Til Schweiger as a 'real' actor besides the many comedian roles he has played - actually one of those bought him his ticket to the film world: 'Manta, Manta'. He played in some more serious films before: "The Ice Bear" (Der Eisbaer) and "Knocking on Heaven's Door", but even his last flick in 2006 "Where is Fred" (Wo ist Fred) was a comedy - not bad (and including some hilarious stunts by Christoph Maria Herbst and beautiful Anna Maria Lara) - but not really a revelation. Also the film puts him in context with many other good actors, especially Lauren Lee Smith. For a while Schweiger has been directing and/or producing his own films - maybe because this was the way of getting a job at all? I hope not - rather do I hope that he will some time tread in the footsteps of Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford etc.

I will leave the comments to the film itself to the other two I have seen posted. Just this: it is a dark film, giving rise to hope, nevertheless. And it does show many things to make people thoughtful - and I do hope this makes them like the film rather than dislike (which would be the far more easy thing to do).

One Way is a unique film focusing on emotional justice – it's about knowledge that everybody carries inside – about what is right and wrong. Unfortunately being right doesn't equal being given justice. Especially when it comes to women's abuse, there is a huge discrepancy between what people feel the deserved punishment would be and what sentences the legal system gives. One Way is an intense film, that portrays betrayal, violence against woman and friendship. Taking this into consideration, it's a miracle that at the end of the film there is positive hope for the protagonists that they'll face a better future. An unpredictable story, that keeps the tension rising till the last shot. Me and my wife saw it together and spoke about it the whole evening. It's out on DVD now... check it out!