Platicsco
Good story, Not enough for a whole film
Neive Bellamy
Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
Nicole
I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
jonathan-harris17
A teacher begins a group on the concept of Autocracy and goes about (innocently) getting his students to conform.Things get out of hand, in a very predictable fashion.Essentially belonging to a group can be delightful, yet castigating and ignoring outsiders has it's drawbacks. Well done indeed.The fact that this is German lends some credence but this feels like it relies far too much on the subjects (and possibly the audience too) being teenagers, as it really feels like a lot of teenagers acting like teenagers -- one of the initial group drops out simply because the 'uniform' doesn't suit her -- and the many expected graffiti and partying scenes get annoying very quickly.The concept is still largely unbelievable in a modern world, and the script does little to convince otherwise.
Achiko Arjevanidze
It seems that humanity has learned it's lessons, history made it as clear as day what has its limits and what should never be done, ever again. But did we really learn anything? Or were we just some lazy students, observing facts and details but not really paying attention to what teacher said. That's exactly what we will figure out. if it was merely a doubt that we aren't safe from ugly sequels, real possibilities hit us, the viewers, like a wave.In the beginning there is a scene, where teacher starts to explain what autocracy is, obviously discussion touches the topic of Nazis, topic which is tiresome for most of the German students, one of them even points out that "It'll never happen again", because, it's seems that we have enough knowledge from past experiences. This student will later find out how horribly wrong he is, as teacher makes a project, which starts as funny simulation, and then, turns into terrible reality, which goes beyond anyone's control.
anordall
Politics happens at society, not at a person's brain. All forms of political regimes serve a purpose, and those ruling a given society are the ones who say what purpose is that. Nazism was an autocracy, but its essence was and still is to fight socialism, because the ruling classes of Germany (though it was born in Sweden, Nazism reached its peak in Germany) were and still are the capitalists. Today, Germany fancies it got totally rid of Nazism, but the truth is that only the forms are different, the essence is the same. Just look at what German capital is doing to Greece, Spain and other weak economies - and how Germans explain the economic troubles of these countries: they are "lazy", undisciplined peoples. Gansel plays on us the same trick Hitler played on Germans: it doesn't matter what class you belong to, you can reunite with all the other persons that have the same "blood" as you, even if this "blood" is an "ersatz" one. You only need to be careful with your personal idiosyncrasies... The film only proves that anarchism and fascism are birds of the same feather.
Saham Hosseini
This is a German movie directed by Dennis Gansel and written by him and Peter Thorwarth. I always dig the foreign films, and I hadn't watched one for a while, so I was curious about this one, especially that I knew nothing about it.The story is a teacher who needs to teach autocracy to his students for a week. It shows how people, especially young students can be brainwashed and take something too far, which often it comes from personal problems. A good example of it is the Basij in Iran, which most of its extremist members are young students whom I can imagine how this process happens to them, and it's shown well in this. This film is well-directed and well-acted; a lot of young actors who all bring great performances. The soundtrack and editing are fine as well but I have problem with the structure of the movie, especially in the first act. In my opinion, some scenes could've been cut out and some should've been in different order that would help the pacing and help to pick up the interest of the audience quicker.I recommend this movie, a good foreign drama film. One thing should be concerned again is the foreign films usually have slow pacing, I honestly think their audiences are more patient, so keep that in mind. I give it 7.8/10.
