User reviews

The movie captured some media interest in Germany when it was screened in Venice film festival but was also critisised by leftists focussing on the childish and psychotic behaviour of the antifascist group. So I was at least curious. Well, the movie doesn't live up to expectations. The story is a bit dull and I had a hard time to follow it. Shooting and edit is not bad but the visual side also failed to hold up my interest. On the positive side I think the acting is at least authentic and the movie lacks the usual dose of policial indoctrination.

Artistic results usually remain without risk when the state interferes. German films are often funded by federal agencies, so I don't expect any revolutionary ideas, but rather a kind of soft rinse format. This film has exactly that, no really convincing story, on the contrary, everything is actually lost in a dichotomy of good and evil, which doesn't really work either. Of course, you can't just imply leftist groups are the good guys, but if I already have the group of neo-fascists, who you really can't leave a good hair on, then I need more knowledge about the motives of leftist cells that take action against them. Spoiled female law students, whose middle-class parents go hunting, and who want to move out of this cocoon of security, remain just a mere cliché, if I don't add anything personal. And the director has not succeeded in doing that with any of her characters. Actually, the theme is thus missed and the characters all remain indifferent.

A mediocre and overall fairly disappointing movie due to weak plot and overall message, mediocre direction, slow clunky pacing, and a very predictable cliched ending. There are some redeeming qualities though such as acting, music, production values, cinematography, and some cool (despite being thinly executed) ideas here & there. It's certainly watchable and all, but don't get too excited about this one.

Never have I seen a film come so close to making a point and then miss the mark entirely. The acting is fantastic, especially by lead Emde, the cinematography is striking, and the editing is well done. But the script reads like a first year's essay on Free Speech and Fascism that didn't bother to do any real research. For a much better version of this film, check out "The East."

The leftists are routinely portrayed as idealistics and somewhat naives. The director, despite her own experience, does not avoid this portrait, although it focuses on the well-known friction between fighting with the same weapons as the enemy, about turning into a wolf to face the wolf. "If it had been done in 1930, Nazism would not have existed." That is a good justification. But showing left-wing extremists as immature and naive makes the debate too simplistic.

Very often people forget that movies could and should be two separate things. Some are entertainment, pure and simple, and some are art, trying to tell a story or make a statement about the world around us. It usually isn't that difficult to figure out what kind of a movie we want to watch. Even so, too often viewers who despair to be entertained at any cost complain about art movies. They are slow, boring, blah, blah, blah... That is always unfair and we and only we have a final decision what to watch. So, this is an art movie, raw and unraveling like the relentless passion of youth. Jerky camera moves, gray streets of an industrial city, innocent idealism that turns dark and dangerous. Fighting evil is a filthy business, nobody comes out of it unscathed. Perhaps that's the reason why there are so many onlookers and collaborators. Fear and cowardice, the twins of failure and missed opportunities.

Winston Churchill said, "The fascists of the future will call themselves anti-fascists."

And this film is precisely about this left-fascist antifa. It gives a good look at the violence with which these organizations operate: the training in violent sports, the beating up of people who think differently, the destruction of cars of political opponents.

In this orgy of violence, a somewhat naive law student of noble birth ends up through a girlfriend. And she gets carried away in this.

The film itself has little story or content.

Was intrigued through the start but then it just went on and on and nothing really happened. I could not get what emotions they wanted the leftists portray with most shots showing them on the wrong side with childish and immature acts. It made it seem like the right wing is non-violent and the leftists are violent lot. Ignore this borefest. Watch something else.

"Von Heinz adopts the go-to means of faux-realistic style, a restive, close-quarters invasiveness often culminates with a close-up on Emde's inscrutable mien, but what makes her tick, the essential question in every viewer's mind, proves to be elusive. Von Heinz attempts to let the actions speak for themselves, but what she presents is a laborious imbroglio consisting of a series of loud confrontations. Since it is told exclusively from Luisa's perspective, scarce information can be gleaned about the Antifa organization and their internal rift, feminism, immigrants and queer identity are only tokenized, while the plot plods through Luisa's correlations with two fellow members Alfa (Saavedra) and Lenor (Schneider). She is sexually attracted by the golden boy Alfa, which may explain why she falls in line with his reckless bravado, but what is the rationale behind Luisa's aggressive radicalism? Her well-to-do family background is alluded to, yet, nothing satisfactory is elucidated by von Heinz, maybe it is just a young girl's impressionable phase of growing pains, but that is a craven nihilistic evasion."

read my full review on my blog: Cinema Omnivore, thanks.

Nothing really happens, waiting for something, and nop, whole movie... wasted time.

..say, that this movie was absolutely superb. I can now understand why it has been nominated for the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival.

Completely deserved. This is much better than what you usually see in German theatres. With the wrong director it could have been turned into a tasteless action fest, but this director here (Julia von Heinz) did everything right, very special film. Kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. Don't know what movie people were watching who described it as boring, they must have confused it with something else, because this movie here is nerve-racking with lots of suspense even in the quieter scenes.

Well performed and directed story of a young woman rebelling against her conservative parents (perhaps unconsciously), trying to find belonging in a group and falling in love with an antihero. Although it's good that the film doesn't try to explain things, it still lacks depth and relatability (as compared to classics such as "Baader-Meinhof-Complex" for example) and has an ambiguous ending that could be read as a call to arms...not sure why this became Germany's entry for the Oscars, the direction is indeed "youthful" but not particularly innovative.

Revolution 101 for politically correct European toddlers, full of idiotic cliches including Bella Ciao, vegan meals, and so on.

Void of content, void of script, void of meaning.

Extremely boring.

This.film has so much potential and fails on so many levels that it is really sad to watch. A lost effort. Two stars for occasional Olivier Assays style editing that unfortunately does not help patch up lack of motivation in characters and lack of story development.

This movie shows the different ways of defending and idea. We know violence is bad but is it ok to use it for the greater good? I personally don't think so but this film makes you think.

Some things are never gonna change, politics is personal.

It's better to have a belief than have none at all.

Are these really the only options? How about just taking a nap? No? Kidding aside though, the movie is quite politically motivated ... extreme measures, extreme cautions and how to dive into the mindset of people who have gone the deep end ... something that unfortunately with the pandemic we get to experience every day. No matter where we live in the world.

But current things aside, the movie is about right and ... left. To have a somewhat coherent movie, things are simplified .. unfortunately as I already said ... this is not far removed from the truth. We almost have to apologize to all the movies we thought were too far removed from the truth, because no one would act that way ... surely that can't be reality ... someone so easily manipulated ... ah we were naive and not the characters in the movies it turns out.

I am not for violence (or fighting it with violence), the movie may see things a bit differently. You may agree with me, the movie or even have another opinion. You still may be able to enjoy this or be entertained if not thrilled by what you see. Just be on the "right" side of things in the real world if you can ...

The anti-fascist in this movie are portrayed more violent than the fascists, which is not only an awkward fail, it's also completely untrue, given the fact that right-wing extremists murdered over 180 people in Germany since 1989 alone. A gang of german Nazi terrorists for example, calling themselves "Nationalsozialistischer Untergrund" (NSU), killed 11 people between 2000 and 2006.

But in this movie the fascists come across as a band of harmless fools.

The anti-fascist on the contrary appear as vain and childish assholes, concerned about themselves and their little middle-class problems, giving up their beliefs at the lightest resistance.

The director herself was an anti-fascist in her student days, so how one can mess up so completely is beyond me. I don't think she wanted to bring across that message.

It must have been the influence of the state institutions. The film was completely funded by german authorities and german state TV stations. The must have said "oh no, violent anti-fascist are bad too, we can't portray them as heroes". "Oh no, don't show Nazis as violent, that's cliché!"

Too many cooks who spoiled the dish. The result is just terrible. This must be one of the worst films on the subjects out there. I feel sorry for the actors who really give their best.

This is not a real review, it should be taken more as a collection of impressions on the film.

This film is a political and screenplay masterpiece. A very powerful and beautiful film that does a good job of telling how two very distant political factions clash on many issues and how the far left and even the far right organize themselves in actions and demonstrations. Film really very critical towards society that wants to convey a strong and easily traceable message throughout the film, but it is also nice to see how within a film with so much denunciation there is also room for lighter moments where the viewer can detach from the anxiety accumulated throughout the rest of the film.