July 9, 2013

The Edukators

Director: Hans Weingartner

Country: Germany

Release: 2004

Roommates Jan and Peter are young, anti-capitalists activists who spend their days openly advocating their ideals on the streets of Berlin. At night they are The Edukators (as they are known to the press and police) – they break into homes of the wealthy to propagandize their cause. In order to elevate their cause and keep the focus on their message, they do not steal from the rich, and do minimal vandalizing. Instead they hide, rearrange and mock their furniture, artwork and other trappings of wealth, and leave messages that their victims have too much, or the end of the time of gross inequity is growing near. Jule is Peter’s girlfriend who has fallen on hard times resulting from an auto accident (her fault) she had with a rich businessman. Jule loses her apartment and moves in with Peter. Jule finds Jan to be too intense and Jan is too focused on his ideals to even notice. However, while Peter is out of town, Jan and Jule become unexpectedly close. Jan is smitten and confesses to Jule their night-time activity. Jule convinces him to take her along and to break into the home of the man to whom she is indebted. Without the usual planning and precautions, things do not go well. Circumstances get out of their control and result in unexpected complications and new and desperate measures are taken. Let me just say that this movie is not nearly as heavy-handed as this plot makes it sound. There are political ideas expressed in the film, but the movie does not take sides. As issues are looked at from different perspectives, the lines between right and wrong, or good and bad, tend to blur. Eventually all of the characters are forced to evaluate and examine their own beliefs, commitment and motivation as a result of their interactions with each other. As the plot develops the story seems to point out that the more things change, the more they stay the same – in regard to our protagonists in specific, and people in general. What the movie really ends up being is an engaging and entertaining misadventure driven by a strong narrative with just enough plot twists and with strong character development. I was totally surprised and immensely entertained by this film. Do not let the political overtones scare you away – they are just the motivation behind the strong plot and interesting characters. This film was not what I expected and I could not have been more pleased to be wrong.