What does "revolution" really mean in the new century? The youth of the western world has lost its foothold in reality. Welfare states creates masses of marxist leaning, welfare egalitarian drones, who do not undestand what the real problems are in the world. They see themselves as victims of the capitalist system, that "robs" from the "poor", to enrich those who has most already. This movie takes a shot at describing these confused youths, in a not too mainstream' ish fashion.
Two revolutionary teenage guys, Jan and Peter from Berlin, call themselves the Edukators. They break in to wealthy homes, rearrange their inventory to scare them, without stealing anything. Peter' s girlfriend Jule, is introduced to their deeds by Jan. She owes a huge sum of money to a wealthy man, from a car accident. She persuades Jan to break into the rich mans house, but she ends up forgetting her mobile phone there, and they have to go back. Accidentally the man comes home, they kidnap him and bring out to a desolate hut. There they have to decide what to do about this desperate situation.
Brühl, who plays Jan, is a great actor, who fits the role of the confused, revolutionary and slightly paranoid kid. Jentsch does a solid job of Jule while second guy is a good, stoned looking, support. Jan knows all the marxist propaganda and idolizes the underground movements of the 70s, and it is clearly presented as propaganda, which is important. When they end up in the kidnapping situation, Jan has to face reality and figure out if his indoctrinated world view is more than just that. During the stay in the hut they slowly gain sympathy for the man and more interestingly, the man feels sympathy for the kids. The movie strikes a difficult balance at not taking any side in the conflict and I think it kind of succeeds. Non of them is really happy. They all end up reflecting on their life, but do they learn and find a better life?
It is interesting to see this sort of clash of the generations. The brainwashed kids judging and blaming this rather innocent man for all their troubles in life. They have a very heard time understanding that everything they use on a daily basis, gasoline, food, toilet paper, all have to be created by somebody and that somebody has to have an incentive, like making lots of money. The kids view has been honed into a victimized attack dog, actually serving the state's needs. At least these are aspects i was enticed to think about. A solid movie, that does have a few weak acting moments, a somewhat constructed plot, but otherwise does what it sets out to do.
Rating: 7/10
