The Educators

Am interesting movie with great potential, which Hans Weingartner managed to fulfill only partially. Partly because he didn't shoot all that much, but mainly because the viewer understands too soon whose side the director sympathizes with. The theme could have been approached as a ruthless drama, where the game would soon get out of the hands of the young "revolutionaries," but the director did not have the courage for that. Or as a sarcastic comedy about why revolutions are so difficult in Western Europe today. As Karel Kryl wrote, revolutions have not succeeded in Germany since the 1950s because revolutionary-minded students quickly buy a car and an apartment after starting work and have no desire to demolish their belongings in revolutionary riots. But the director didn't have the desire for that either. It would have been beautiful if he had cut to ten years later, when Julia Jentsch leaves a similar clique with her partner, just like they were improving their class opponents' lives in their youth. For a functional drama, it would have been good if the kidnapped manager became an equal opponent and the screenwriter equipped him with arguments and audience-sympathetic qualities to deepen the dramatic conflict. However, the creators wanted to portray him as an unsympathetic scoundrel, so the only scene in the car with police escort actually undermines the whole point. The film runs at half throttle from beginning to end, and it could have been funnier, more dramatic, and more provocative. Overall impression: 60%. (09/03/2010)

Un très bon cru allemand qui se base presque entièrement sur le jeu de quatre acteurs. Daniel Brühl révèle de grands talents d’acteur et de linguiste, bien que je sois déjà habitué à ses excellentes prestations. Julia Jentsch m’était encore inconnue jusque là et Stipe Erceg a malheureusement manqué de s’inscrire dans ma mémoire avec La bande à Baader. Ensemble, cela dit, tous trois offrent une performance à la hauteur et je me suis progressivement pris de sympathie pour leurs personnages. La deuxième moitié du film, en particulier, m’a marqué avec sa série de discussions et polémiques et sa légère tension amoureuse. Je rejoins pas mal d’opinions exprimées dans ce film et j’ai spécialement apprécié le titre gardé en allemand, reflet de l’Europe d’aujourd’hui. Quatre étoiles et demie, donc, en arrondissant vers le haut pour la deuxième partie et les sympathiques protagonistes centraux. Encore un bon point pour le cinéma allemand ! (22/12/2011)

I'm certainly no rich capitalist, but even as a complete loser and a charity case, I don't adhere to the notion that wealth should be distributed equally to everyone without discrimination, even to those who hate work with a passion. If a bunch of activists stormed into my place saying that a computer, a Play Station, and an XBOX are too much for one person and I should share them with, say, a poor refugee family, I'd probably lose it. By that, I mean that the film’s premise wasn’t exactly close to my heart. That clichéd and hackneyed song that took up the whole ending was grating on my ears, and I didn't believe the resolution of the love triangle for a second. Yet, I’m giving three stars for Niki Lauda and Sophie Scholl’s performance. (15/08/2016)