Bastard (2011)

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Movie
Original title bastard
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 2011
length 129: 41 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Carsten Unger
script Carsten Unger
production Reza Bahar ,
Nicole Ringhut
music Stevie B-Zet ,
Ralf Hildenbag
camera Lars Petersen
cut Dora Vajda
occupation

Bastard is a German psychological thriller that was created in spring 2010 under the direction of Carsten Unger. Unger tells the fictional story of two neglected teenagers, Leon and Mathilda, on their search for parental care.

The film premiered on October 25, 2011 at the Hof Film Festival. The official release was on April 18, 2013.

action

Mathilda's father was killed in a car accident and her mother is an alcoholic . Both live in modest circumstances in a simple apartment block. Their understanding of their roles has turned into the opposite: for example, Mathilda has to wash her mother after one of her binge drinking and prepare her food. She escapes from the poor circumstances on the street - especially if her mother once again welcomes a friend in the apartment. There she grapples with minor thefts and tests her youthful charms on much older men.

The 13-year-old Leon lives - at least outwardly - in completely different circumstances. He is a gifted adoptive child and lives with his wealthy adoptive parents. Financially they lack nothing, but he does not receive any care either.

During a social internship at the youth welfare office , Leon finds out the identity of his real mother Anja. She is now married and has a second son who goes to the same soccer club as Leon. He decides to take revenge on her and kidnaps his half-brother Nikolas to take his place through blackmail. He locks the 9-year-old in a remote basement and hides his true identity from him. Leon records his "victim" with a mobile phone and shortly afterwards the video is circulating in the school.

Nikolas is now missing when the headmistress learns about the video. The criminal psychologist Claudia Meinert questions all the students in the auditorium. Mathilda finds out about the kidnapping and joins his plan, initially against Leon's will. Claudia Meinert noticed the closed, withdrawn boy from the first questioning. So she learns about the dark game of the two youngsters relatively quickly. They go to Nikolas' mother Anja and demand the same donations from the family as Nikolas would get. Leon asks Anja to cook Mathilda's favorite food for them, put them to bed and read a bedtime story . He threatens to kill Nikolas in three days before his birthday. Only then he would with 14 criminal responsibility . The family goes into the perfidious game of the two to save their son - and Claudia Meinert also stays in Anja's house. She found out at the youth welfare office that Anja was raped as a young woman and left the child on a baby hatch. She also finds out that Leon's real birthday was one day earlier than the official one: Since the exact birthday of an anonymous birth is generally not known, the "delivery date" of the baby hatch is considered the birthday, although the recorded condition of Leon's umbilical cord is for an age closed for 24 hours. This means that he is of criminal responsibility one day earlier. Leon is therefore surprised the next day with a staged birthday party. His birth mother offers him a birthday present with his real name if he reveals Nikolas hiding place. However, he gives a wrong location. When the present turns out to be empty and Anja tells him that she never wants to see him again, Leon is completely horrified. The situation escalates when Claudia arrests him, whereupon Mathilda snatches the service pistol from her and locks all adults in the basement of the house. Leon and Mathilda rush to the hiding place together. Leon wants to shoot Nikolas with the gun. He sends Mathilda out and a shot can be heard. Then the two continue their escape. She leads them into a church where the two witnesses a baptism . Mathilda pulls Leon into an adjoining room and wants to offer herself to him - as a "birthday present" - but Leon refuses. They arrange to meet Anja for breakfast together to bring "it" to an end.

That same night Leon went to the hospital where he was dropped off. Claudia is already waiting for him there and gives him an envelope with the information about his origin, which his mother wrote at the time and which the hospital has kept for the time being. She takes him to his birth mother and locks them both in a room where they are supposed to speak. Leon hands her Nikolas stuffed bunny, who is pierced by a shot. But Anja is sure that Nikolas is still alive. She tells Leon about her rape and the circumstances surrounding his birth. After mother and son got close towards morning, Leon leads the parents to Nikolas hiding place.

Mathilda knows nothing of all this, however, as Leon is frightened to realize. She comes to Anja's apartment as agreed, but nobody is home. She believes that Leon is no longer there and that her plan to experience affection in this way has failed. When Leon rushes up, she has taken her own life with Claudia's weapon.

Criticism / reception

The film received the rating “particularly valuable” from the German Film and Media Assessment . Lars Petersen received the German Film Award 2011 for his camera work. Thomas Ays rated the film on the movieselection portal as "successful in terms of acting and staging". Rainer Gansera from the Süddeutsche Zeitung , on the other hand, writes: “In fact, the socio-thematic coordinates that Carsten Unger defines in the course of the film are predictable. The storyline of the detective thriller also follows the course of pale compulsory exercises. ”The film magazine epd Film thinks that Bastard is an“ amazing debut film ”. FBW rated the film similarly positive : "Skilfully staged, full of dramatic power ... The opulent equipment and a virtuoso camera with exciting color aesthetics give the thriller expressive images."

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of release for bastard . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , March 2011 (PDF; test number: 127 120 K).
  2. ^ "Awards" at Filmportal.de
  3. ^ "Carsten Unger" at moviesection.de, accessed on January 13, 2015.
  4. ^ "Snow White Cooked Out" at Süddeutsche.de
  5. ^ Review of "Bastard" at epd-film.de, accessed on May 17, 2015
  6. ^ Film Bastard - German film evaluation and media evaluation FBW