A court drama, as low-key as it is spectacular, about the climate catastrophe. It is 2034, and 31 nations have filed suit against the Federal Republic of Germany claiming damages for the consequences of climate change. Ecocide moves masterfully between the past, present and future, between docudrama and fictional documentary.

The year is 2034. The consequences of climate change are sweeping, and drought and floods have already destroyed the livelihoods of millions of people. After the third consecutive storm surge in a row, the International Court of Justice in The Hague is temporarily moved to Berlin, where the climate catastrophe becomes the subject of a sensational court case.

The claim for damages brought by a coalition of 31 countries of the Global South against the Federal Republic of Germany is represented by two lawyers (Nina Kunzendorf and Friederike Becht). It is an exemplary matter of the economic and ecological responsibility of the developed world as well as nature's right to integrity. Or, to put it more drastically: the question at hand is whether and how the world community can be held accountable for reliably ensuring the livelihoods of portions of its members.

Senior political and industrial representatives are summoned as witnesses. In the precedent-setting case, the court has to decide whether German policymakers can be held accountable for their failure to protect the climate.

The plaintiffs charge that for decades the Federal Republic of Germany not only violated its obligation under international law to counteract increasing CO₂ emissions, but also undermined and blocked all European climate-protection requirements to the best of its ability. And thus the FRG, embodied by the 80-year-old Angela Merkel (Martina Eitner-Acheampong), is now on trial, answering for its actions from 1990 to 2020. Co-defendant Gerhard Schroeder, however, sends his apologies for being a no-show due to being on a medicinal cure in Russia – a passing detail that offers an indication of the humour, cool rationality and obsession with detail that this interplay of science-fiction and docudrama displays.

The subplots are inferred in easy strokes: during the course of the trial, a nefarious spin doctor falsifies audio files and uses his perfectly constructed fake news to stir up the mood on social media. The former ties between the defence counsel of the Federal Republic (Ulrich Tukur) and one of the plaintiff lawyers are adumbrated en passant. By the same token, a fundamental tactical and generational conflict simmers between the two plaintiff lawyers.

The core aim of Ecocide is a concentrated analysis of the present as viewed through a magnifying glass of the future. Andres Veiel and his co-author Jutta Doberstein unmask how lobby-based political decisions of our present and recent past are robbing the world of its future prospects.



What the critics say
"Would it have been better for the award-winning director – of, among others, Black Box Germany, If Not Us, Who? and Beuys – to turn to his actual domain of specialisation, the documentary, to present his meticulously researched material? No. For it is precisely the semi-fictional presentation, in combination with a strong soundtrack and integration of floods, hurricanes, droughts and animal deaths, that functions as the emotional door-opener for a differentiated examination of the topic. Veiel is without doubt appalled by the failures of Germany's climate protection policies of the past 20 years, but he nevertheless never resorts to inflammatory clichés." (Badische Zeitung, 16.11.2020)


"Andres Veiel, whose fame is based on his meticulously researched documentaries (Black Box Germany, Addicted to Acting), has switched genres here and made a feature film set in the future. (...) What makes this film a courageous work of art is that its actual main characters are the facts and arguments. They prove that for the past 30 years, Germany has undermined and blocked all environmental policies of consequence." (Süddeutsche Zeitung, 18.11.2020)


"Veiel does not stage a 'good vs. evil' tribunal, but instead presents a rhetorical clash between economy-driven German pragmatism and global morality. Lots of medium long shots, fewer close-ups. The intention of Ecocide is not to suggest, but to instigate debate." (Die Tageszeitung, 18.11.2020)


"The interest of the audience is likely to be directed above all towards the eighty-year-old, vocally and physically on-the-mark but somewhat revitalised Angela Merkel (Martina Eitner-Acheampong). Unlike the 90-year-old Gerhard Schroeder, who is likewise summoned to appear but disappears into the Russian Federation instead, she personally appears to condemn, with decency and pride, posterity's judgment of her political era, an era distinguished by a contradiction between climate avowals (e.g., the media-covered Greenland trip in 2007) and regional economic policies. She is also responsible for the film's climax, which is as touchingly naive as it is narratively successful; a Merkel moment, just like in 2011 (nuclear phase-out) or 2015 (admission of refugees), in which the 'climate chancellor' suddenly speaks." (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 18.11.2020)

Ralph Eue (10.03.2021)

Production Year

2020

color

color

Duration

Feature-Length Film (61+ Min.)

Type

Feature Film, Docufiction / Mockumentary

Genre

Science Fiction, Drama

Topic

Justice, Globalisation, Science, Environment / Ecology / Climate Change, Democracy / Human Rights

Target Group

Youth film (12-17)

Available Media

DVD, Blu-ray Disc, DCP

Original Version

German (de), English (en)

DVD

Subtitles

English (en), French (fr), Spanish (Latin America), Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (short), Arabic (ar), Russian (ru), German (full), Czech (cs), Turkish (tr)

Blu-ray Disc

Subtitles

English (en), French (fr), Spanish (Latin America), Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (short), Arabic (ar), Russian (ru), German (full), Czech (cs), Turkish (tr)

DCP

Subtitles

English (en), French (fr), Spanish (Latin America), Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (short), Arabic (ar), Russian (ru), Czech (cs), German (full), Turkish (tr)