A young woman walking purposefully down a forest path with a hunting rifle: Not your standard opening scene for a contemporary European drama, quickly becoming ominous when intercut with an excerpt from the German constitution that allows civil disobedience to protect democracy. I went into Julia von Heinz’ Venice competition title And Tomorrow the Entire World that is simultaneously featured in the TIFF market with a mix of trepidation and high hopes. The director dissects the radicalization of the antifa, eerily harking back to the 70s RAF --the generation who are today’s antifa's parents-- while drawing on her own biography: Heinz entered the German antifa movement as a teen and exited it, disillusioned over hierarchy and patriarchy, a few years later. Is this the time to focus on left-wing militancy over right-wing terror? A question Heinz must have asked herself when she set out to make this film — but she gets it right and delivers universal if not lessons than unrelenting impulses.
Thursday, September 10. 2020
#TIFF20: And Tomorrow the Entire World
A young woman walking purposefully down a forest path with a hunting rifle: Not your standard opening scene for a contemporary European drama, quickly becoming ominous when intercut with an excerpt from the German constitution that allows civil disobedience to protect democracy. I went into Julia von Heinz’ Venice competition title And Tomorrow the Entire World that is simultaneously featured in the TIFF market with a mix of trepidation and high hopes. The director dissects the radicalization of the antifa, eerily harking back to the 70s RAF --the generation who are today’s antifa's parents-- while drawing on her own biography: Heinz entered the German antifa movement as a teen and exited it, disillusioned over hierarchy and patriarchy, a few years later. Is this the time to focus on left-wing militancy over right-wing terror? A question Heinz must have asked herself when she set out to make this film — but she gets it right and delivers universal if not lessons than unrelenting impulses.
One such right decision is to largely eclipse the environment: no temptingly despicable Nazis (when they do come into view, the hate kick you in the groin), no close-up of victims, refugees, foreigners, one or two home scenes, one or two police scenes, no theoretical debates about roots and causes and history. This is about one girl's personal and political journey in the here and now. This single-mindedness with blurry edges is also what elevates the film from a "German" conversation to a scrutiny of human nature and behaviour.
Without much back story, Heinz slowly but fearlessly wades into how bourgeois law student Luisa gets involved in a radical political movement standing up against violence and xenophobia. Refreshingly, the film is set not in Berlin, the mecca of anarchist action, but provincial Mannheim, and interestingly, it is co-produced by filmmaker David Wnendt, who told the flip side of the story with his tough award-winning 2011 female neo-Nazi drama Combat Girls.
As we get to know Luisa and follow her down the rabbit hole, Heinz is implicitly and explicitly asking the hard questions: What would you do if a friend were attacked and injured? Whose cause are you helping when throwing pies at a right-winger at a rally, just as she demands safety for women in the streets? Can you counter violence with (non-)violent means? When is it too late to interfere and save a democracy? At what point do you become like your enemy? And finally: How do you live a meaningful life, true to yourself?
When peaceful idealism turns into street fighting, it’s a quick three-step from throwing eggs to smashing in car windows to explosives. Everyone’s personal and interpersonal stuff gets added to the equation as well: longing and belonging, tribal allegiance, herd mentality, the exhilaration of finding an expression for one's convictions, simmering frustrations, differing social backgrounds, youthful hubris and defiance, romantic attachments and projections.
Heinz’ previous dramas have focussed on troubled young women and I expect we will see more necessary and uncomfortable female-centred work from her. Keep an eye on actor Mala Emde who plays Luisa beautifully and carefully and whose mesmerizing expressions from searching to brooding to taking charge the roaming camera keeps circling. Emde you might already have noticed in Jan-Ole Gerster's Lara last year or the TV series Charité, and you will see her again soon alongside Nina Hoss in the German-Canadian TV production Shadowplay. She is the enigmatic pivot of And Tomorrow the Entire World (and increasingly the antifa action), keeping us at arms’ length with just enough glimpses of unease, desire, rebellion, and fervour to seduce us to go along with her.
Mala Emde gets strong support from some of Germany’s best young actors: Noah Saavedra (Freud) as boyfriend Alfa, Tonio Schneider as the torn, prudent get-away driver, and Luisa-Céline Gaffron (Persian Lessons, and next year in Philipp Stölzl's Zweig adaptation The Royal Game) as the loyal, upbeat girlfriend. Some simplifications and shortcuts sneak in, but then these are composite and pars pro toto characters, and I will take a watchable film under two hours for it.
A slow burner interspersed with drastic incidents, expertly constructed and bubbling with enough nagging questions and provocative encounters to keep you wondering: At what point would I stop (or would I?), with personal safety as well as one’s identity on the line? As befits the subject matter, Heinz takes no prisoners as she drives her characters and audiences nearly to the point of despair and a hard-hitting ending, but also gives us heart-wrenching (never melodramatic) scenes, such as when Luisa tentatively and vulnerably returns to her commune after a time of soul-searching, like a prodigal daughter, and we don't know for a while whether she'll find acceptance, attachment, and purpose again or whether she's forever lost and broken.
Julia von Heinz, who German audiences alternatively know as a successful creator of mainstream comedies, children’s films and TV crime shows, or as a Rosa von Praunheim collaborator, has delivered a globally relevant and transcendent drama that will likely trigger debate. Let’s hope wider international audiences will get to see And Tomorrow the Entire World, an intense, alluring, and unfortunately evergreen political drama about resistance and (non-)violence. This is contemporary German cinema when it's strong: cleverly developed, tightly scripted, courageously directed, engagingly shot, intriguingly paced, well played and interpreted, tough and tender, urgent and hopeful at the same time. And German audiences especially will enjoy the soundtrack with some nostalgic 1980s protest song covers, a reminder that we've been here before or perhaps have never left that space, as is the thank you to veteran political filmmaker Margarethe von Trotta (Marianne and Juliane) in the credits.
by @JuttaBrendemuhl
image: And Tomorrow the Entire World, courtesy Films Boutique Berlin
Without much back story, Heinz slowly but fearlessly wades into how bourgeois law student Luisa gets involved in a radical political movement standing up against violence and xenophobia. Refreshingly, the film is set not in Berlin, the mecca of anarchist action, but provincial Mannheim, and interestingly, it is co-produced by filmmaker David Wnendt, who told the flip side of the story with his tough award-winning 2011 female neo-Nazi drama Combat Girls.
As we get to know Luisa and follow her down the rabbit hole, Heinz is implicitly and explicitly asking the hard questions: What would you do if a friend were attacked and injured? Whose cause are you helping when throwing pies at a right-winger at a rally, just as she demands safety for women in the streets? Can you counter violence with (non-)violent means? When is it too late to interfere and save a democracy? At what point do you become like your enemy? And finally: How do you live a meaningful life, true to yourself?
When peaceful idealism turns into street fighting, it’s a quick three-step from throwing eggs to smashing in car windows to explosives. Everyone’s personal and interpersonal stuff gets added to the equation as well: longing and belonging, tribal allegiance, herd mentality, the exhilaration of finding an expression for one's convictions, simmering frustrations, differing social backgrounds, youthful hubris and defiance, romantic attachments and projections.
Heinz’ previous dramas have focussed on troubled young women and I expect we will see more necessary and uncomfortable female-centred work from her. Keep an eye on actor Mala Emde who plays Luisa beautifully and carefully and whose mesmerizing expressions from searching to brooding to taking charge the roaming camera keeps circling. Emde you might already have noticed in Jan-Ole Gerster's Lara last year or the TV series Charité, and you will see her again soon alongside Nina Hoss in the German-Canadian TV production Shadowplay. She is the enigmatic pivot of And Tomorrow the Entire World (and increasingly the antifa action), keeping us at arms’ length with just enough glimpses of unease, desire, rebellion, and fervour to seduce us to go along with her.
Mala Emde gets strong support from some of Germany’s best young actors: Noah Saavedra (Freud) as boyfriend Alfa, Tonio Schneider as the torn, prudent get-away driver, and Luisa-Céline Gaffron (Persian Lessons, and next year in Philipp Stölzl's Zweig adaptation The Royal Game) as the loyal, upbeat girlfriend. Some simplifications and shortcuts sneak in, but then these are composite and pars pro toto characters, and I will take a watchable film under two hours for it.
A slow burner interspersed with drastic incidents, expertly constructed and bubbling with enough nagging questions and provocative encounters to keep you wondering: At what point would I stop (or would I?), with personal safety as well as one’s identity on the line? As befits the subject matter, Heinz takes no prisoners as she drives her characters and audiences nearly to the point of despair and a hard-hitting ending, but also gives us heart-wrenching (never melodramatic) scenes, such as when Luisa tentatively and vulnerably returns to her commune after a time of soul-searching, like a prodigal daughter, and we don't know for a while whether she'll find acceptance, attachment, and purpose again or whether she's forever lost and broken.
Julia von Heinz, who German audiences alternatively know as a successful creator of mainstream comedies, children’s films and TV crime shows, or as a Rosa von Praunheim collaborator, has delivered a globally relevant and transcendent drama that will likely trigger debate. Let’s hope wider international audiences will get to see And Tomorrow the Entire World, an intense, alluring, and unfortunately evergreen political drama about resistance and (non-)violence. This is contemporary German cinema when it's strong: cleverly developed, tightly scripted, courageously directed, engagingly shot, intriguingly paced, well played and interpreted, tough and tender, urgent and hopeful at the same time. And German audiences especially will enjoy the soundtrack with some nostalgic 1980s protest song covers, a reminder that we've been here before or perhaps have never left that space, as is the thank you to veteran political filmmaker Margarethe von Trotta (Marianne and Juliane) in the credits.
by @JuttaBrendemuhl
image: And Tomorrow the Entire World, courtesy Films Boutique Berlin
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