Youth without God (2017)

Movie
Original title	Youth without God
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
Publishing year	2017
length	114 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12 ; JMK 14
Rod
Director	Alain Gsponer
script	Alex Buresch , ; Matthias Lease
production	Uli Aselmann , ; Sophia Aldenhoven
music	Enis Rotthoff
camera	Frank Lamm
cut	Tobias Haas
occupation
	Jannis Niewöhner : Zach; Alicia von Rittberg : Nadesh; Emilia Schüle : Ewa; Anna Maria Mühe : Loreen; Fahri Yardım : Teacher; Jannik Schümann : Titus; Livia Matthes : Samira; Genet Zegay : Suri; Damian Thüne : Wladim; David Meier : Ronen; Iris Berben : Director; Rainer Bock : Trainer; Susanna Simon : Zach's mother; Karen Böhne : Titus' mother; Katharina Müller-Elmau : Judge; Hauke Petersen : Bernard;

Jugend ohne Gott is a German film drama by Alain Gsponer based on the novel Jugend ohne Gott by Ödön von Horváth and released in German cinemas on August 31, 2017.

action

At an annual assessment camp, the best in a senior year try to get one of the coveted places at the five Rowald universities that exist worldwide, an elite university. The young elite, children of wealthy parents, were sent to the camp to collect credit points and assert themselves against competitors. A transmitter will be implanted under the skin of all participants in the selection competition so that they can be located at any time during field games on the spacious area of the camp. The pupils are warned of "illegals" who have left the zones assigned to them and should be reported by the pupils.

The lonely Zach has no real interest in the competition. His father recently committed suicide, which Zach suffers greatly. In addition, his classmates have made sure that their classmate Wladim is suddenly not allowed to go to the camp in favor of Bernard, which Zach does not think is fair. Zach records all his thoughts in a diary, but he is closed to his colleagues. This is one of the reasons why the very ambitious Nadesh feels fascinated and attracted by him.

In the forest, Zach meets the mysterious Ewa, who lives there with other illegals and keeps afloat by stealing. Their acquaintance contradicts all the rules and is associated with the danger of discovery for both; yet they fall in love and begin a relationship. Nadesh discovers her by chance, but initially does not reveal to Zach. However, she begins to read his diary. When Zach catches her doing it, the situation escalates and they both have to answer to the camp psychologist.

When Zach's diary is stolen, he believes it was Nadesh and fights with her. Zach has to leave the camp, but does not wait for the helicopter to pick him up, but goes to Ewa in the forest. He cuts his transmitter out of his skin and wants to live in the forest with the illegals. Nadesh sees the two of them, and an argument ensues in which Nadesh hits the head of Zach with a stone, who then falls unconscious down a slope. Titus, who has already endangered Ronen and Nadesh while working in the camp, observes the scene and kills Nadesh with a stone. When Zach wakes up, Nadesh is lying dead on the ground with her skull broken; Ewa sits next to her. Zach admits the murder because he believes it was Ewa and he wants to protect her. The evidence speaks for Ewa as the perpetrator. At the trial, she claims that another boy appeared in the forest who must have killed Nadesh. The court doesn't believe her and puts her in an institution.

The student's teacher confesses to taking the diary because he wanted to understand Zach better in order to help him. He has to leave school and the elite neighborhood. As a result of reading the diary, he breaks with his previous values, which have been adapted to social expectations. He discovered that the cold-hearted student Titus must be the culprit. He had manipulated the location system so that he could not be located at the crime scene. The teacher goes to Titus and confronts him with his suspicions. At first he appears unimpressed, but when the teacher hugs him and doesn't let go, he lets his suppressed emotions run free. The police got the teacher out of bed the next day because Titus took his own life and left a note: “Ask the teacher. He knows the truth. ”Ewa is released and picked up by Zach. They walk away happily together.

production

Literary template

The film was based on the novel Jugend ohne Gott by the Austro-Hungarian writer Ödön von Horváth . This was published in 1937 and the material has served as a template for films several times. In the novel, a teacher is accused of being " humane " and discredited by the school administration for pointing out to a student that black people are also black people.

Staff and funding

The Swiss Alain Gsponer , who previously worked in this role for the films Lila, Lila (2009) and Heidi (2015), took over the direction . The script was written by Alexander Buresch and Matthias Pacht .

The film is a production by die film gmbh in coproduction with Constantin Film . Uli Aselmann and Sophia Aldenhoven acted as producers . Of the projects funded by the FilmFernsehFonds Bayern in 2015, the film received the highest funding amount with one million euros. The German Film Fund contributed 800,000 euros. The film received further funding from HessenInvest Film and the FFA .

Structure and occupation

Fahri Yardım plays a teacher in the film who rethinks his own values

In order to make the material interesting for young people, it has been moved into the near future for the film: “Instead of fascism, there is a strong winner-loser society in our film. Those who are up in society are in tough competition, ”said Gsponer. In an interview with the Aargauer Zeitung , the director also explained why his film adaptation of the novel is set in the future: “We did a long research before we came to this decision. In this process, it was important to get direct feedback on the story from young people. I asked a school class that had to read the novel in class. [...] The aim was to find out which aspects of the story they felt addressed. [...] In contrast to the fascist system at Horvath, today it is the social media and the resulting competition that influences the young people. ”To explain why Yardim in the role of the teacher in his film is not so much concerned with God as in the literary original, Gsponer said: “With Horvath, God stands for truth, values and love. So you could call it youth without values . Today's youth no longer knows any values. That was one of the reasons why we interpreted it differently. It's not primarily about the godless, but about criticizing the lack of humanistic values. "

The film tells the story from four different perspectives, one after the other. While the teacher is the protagonist in the book, Gsponer tried to find a different approach for the film: “We decided to better integrate the young people into the story. After all, they too are our target audience. ”The German Film and Media Rating says that Gsponer is telling the story in several parts, each from the perspective of one of the protagonists, so that the events are played through several times, each with new, deeper levels of meaning. This unusual narrative form causes irritation at first, but at the latest halfway through the film, the dramaturgy develops a considerable pull, and the film develops into an exciting thriller. The perspectives are:

Nadesh
Zach
Teacher
Titus

Then the pick-up of the teacher from his perspective, the discharge Ewas from Zach's point of view are described.

Fahri Yardim plays the main role of the teacher. Anna Maria Mühe can be seen in the film as the psychologist Loreen, who looks after the students in the camp. Jannis Niewöhner played a central role with Zach in the film. Alicia von Rittberg plays Nadesh, Emilia Schüle her rival Ewa, who lives alone in the woods. Jannik Schümann (Titus), Livia Matthes (Samira), Genet Zegay (Suri), Damian Thüne (Wladim) and David Meier (Ronen) embody other camp participants.

For the shooting in May and June 2016 in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen , interested parties could apply for small roles.

Filming and post-production

An observation platform in the Messel Pit

Stone wall near Poppenhausen

Filming began in April 2016. In May and June 2016, filming took place in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district. The scenes in which the students register for the camp and hand in their electronic devices in the film were filmed on June 13th and 14th, 2016 in the visitor center of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Messel Pit , which consists of gray, hard concrete walls. “The architecture is the reason we're shooting here. There is something open about it, but also something brute, ”explains the director. The visitor center was still digitally processed, which means that a fence can be seen to the right and left of the building that delimits the camp. Other locations in Hessen were some high-rise buildings in Frankfurt am Main , the congress center in Darmstadt and the rock climbing rock of the Steinwand near Poppenhausen . The shooting took a total of two months.

Marketing and Publishing

A first trailer for the film was published at the end of April 2017. The film celebrated its premiere on August 21, 2017 in the Mathäser-Filmpalast in Munich and was presented the next day in Berlin. The film was released in German cinemas on August 31, 2017, and it was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on February 8, 2018.

reception

Age rating

In Germany the film is FSK 12 . The statement of reasons for the release states: “The film is told with an affinity for young people and offers strong identification figures in the few morally upright protagonists. Although the intensity and drama of what is happening can emotionally overwhelm children under the age of 12, children as early as 12 are able to place the gloomy atmosphere and the tension in the context, especially since the central questions and conflicts are ultimately resolved. The age group mentioned can distance themselves sufficiently to deal independently with the ethical questions of the film and to process what they have seen. The film challenges them, but doesn't overwhelm them. "

Reviews and use in school lessons

From the German Film and Media Review was Youth Without God with the predicate particularly valuable provided. In the press release it says: “The setting of the hermetically sealed camp between mountains and forests delivers great pictures with the help of Frank Lamm's camera , plus there is an authentically constructed urban setting of the future, which could also be located in the here and now and thus appear eerily close . Just like the color and light setting, the music also congenially underlines the atmosphere of the permanent threat. "

Alexandra Seibel from the Kurier criticized the lack of reference to the original book and characterized the film as “a smooth youth drama, the content of which is critical of authoritarianism, is incredibly important and inspires with its own inflatedness. [...] No dystopia cliché remains untouched: the stereotypes clash with young people as nerds, rebels or followers. "

Corina Gall from the Aargauer Zeitung explains with regard to the shift of history into the future that the plot of the film is based heavily on that of the book, but the book fails to draw attention to the current problems of racism and discrimination, although the book actually offers the perfect template.

In spring 2019, the film was presented as part of the SchulKinoWochen in Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia.