Jan and Peter share: a flat in Berlin, a Volkswagen bus, and ideas on how to take action against social injustice in the world. They spy on luxury mansions and break in when the owners aren’t home. They don't steal anything, instead they re-arrange the furniture and leave what they hope are unsettling notes, such as “You have too much money” or “Your days of plenty are numbered”, and sign themselves as “The Edukators”. Peter’s girlfriend Jule has just lost her flat because she fell behind with the rent, and moves in with Peter and Jan. She has a casual job in an expensive restaurant to pay off enormous debts - in a road accident she wrecked the car of a rich businessman (Hardenberg), and now she has to pay for the damage.

While Peter is on a short trip abroad, Jan and Jule become closer. Jan tells her about their campaign against the super rich and lets her talk him into going to Hardenberg's mansion. At the end of their ‘mission’ they throw a designer sofa into the pool and hastily scarper when the alarm goes off. Jule, however, has left her mobile phone behind. Jan and Jule go back inside and are caught by Hardenberg. Jan knocks him down, and calls Peter for help, as the situation threatens to get completely out of hand.

The trio kidnap the businessman and take him to a mountain hut in the Tyrol. There, the kidnappers and their victim have long discussions. Hardenberg reveals that he was a student activist in 1968, a committee-member of the Socialist Student Union, and a friend of Rudi Dutschke (the Union’s most prominent spokesperson). He tells them he disapproves of the kidnap, but respects their idealism. From this point on, a mutual understanding seems to be developing. In the meantime, Hardenberg maliciously hints of Jan and Jule’s relationship to the unsuspecting Peter; the subsequent rift does not last long – and they know it is time to end the kidnap. They take Hardenberg back to his mansion. However, his conciliatory words are not to be trusted.

THE EDUKATORS was not only a success in German cinemas, but was also the first German film in 11 years to be included in the Cannes film competition. Weingartner’s work is impressive because of its courage: at a time when the world is continually shocked by terrorist attacks and kidnappings, he takes the risk of almost making a comedy about kidnappers and guarantees them the audience’s understanding - and even their support. Jan, Jule and Peter are sheer idealists, whose growing anger with the system already makes the film’s premise credible. They are not vandals and do not have violent inclinations, certainly not against people; on their forays, they put an expensive hi-fi in the fridge rather than break it. Only then comes the time when events take a turn they had never envisaged. Even their victim seems to understand their exploits: “Thirty years ago we'd probably also have enjoyed giving some capitalist big shot a hard time,” and he adds, “I respect your idealism!”

The trio’s declarations and statements sometimes sound a little wooden and bookish – and yet the dialogue works perfectly, since it matches the characters, who act naively rather than with a clear-headed rationale. What’s more, it reflects reality: the language of idealists never sounds as cool and clever as that of cynics and pragmatists. The actors, and in particular the director’s working methods, have also greatly contributed to the credibility of this remarkable tale. “In this kind of film, the art is to make it look a bit improvised, even when it isn’t at all. For me improvising means creating something fresh, not repeated, without constraints. You should feel you’re watching real life, not a film. The most important thing is to take enough time – to work on a scene for as long as it takes for it to come over as completely real. You should not be afraid to let things happen, to go with the flow. I try not to plan everything down to the last detail. On the sets of most German films it’s a bit like a factory assembly line, so this kind of approach isn’t possible.” (Hans Weingartner)

The technical equipment had to be flexible too. The film was shot exclusively with two handheld digital cameras, which followed the actors and only took positions that a human observer would have. Weingartner tells the story from an eyewitness’s point of view and in this way creates a subconscious complicity between the viewer and the film’s heroes. The short focus lens gives the actors enough free space so that they don’t go out of focus with any sudden movements. The increased light sensitivity of digital cameras was also part of the visual concept behind the film – the director could work almost entirely without artificial light. The digital technology used meant that, as a producer, he could realize his project on a relatively low budget. “By doing that, you aren’t subject to any outside pressure or influences. You don’t always have this thought in the back of your mind that it has to please as many people as possible.”

From the very beginning one senses the personal closeness of the director/ co-author to the characters and their story. “THE EDUKATORS has a lot to do with the last ten years of my life, in which I repeatedly tried to become politically active, and repeatedly failed. I always wanted to be part of a youth movement, but I never really found one. I became a punk when punk was already over. I became a squatter when that was coming to an end. I think we live in a time when lots of young people want to see political change but don’t know how to bring it about. There’s nothing to goad people into taking action, there’s no group dynamic.” (Hans Weingartner) The film also tells the story, without it being explicitly mentioned, of the decline of ideologies and the loss of faith in the solutions presented by political parties. THE EDUKATORS is one of the most convincing works so far about a young German generation which is all too often dismissed as superficial.

Hans Günther Pflaum

Production Country

Austria (AT), Germany (DE)

Production Period

2003/2004

Production Year

2004

color

color

Aspect Ratio

1:1,85

Duration

Feature-Length Film (61+ Min.)

Type

Feature Film

Genre

Drama

Topic

Capitalism, Love, Friendship, Extremism / Terrorism

Target Group

Youth film (12-17)

Available Media

35mm, DVD, DVD

Original Version

German (de)

35mm

Subtitles

English (en), French (fr), Arabic (ar)

DVD

Subtitles

German (de), English (en), French (fr), Spanish (es), Portuguese (Brazil) (pt)

DVD

Subtitles

Arabic (ar), Indonesisch (id), Chinese (zh), English (en), French (fr), Portuguese (Brazil) (pt), Spanish (es), Russian (ru), German (full)