Soy Nero
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Soy Nero |
| Original title | Soy Nero |
| Country of production | Germany , France , Mexico |
| original language | Spanish , English |
| Publishing year | 2016 |
| length | 117 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Rafi Pitts |
| script | Rafi Pitts, Razvan Radulescu |
| production |
Rita Dagher , Martin Hampel , Thanassis Karathanos |
| music | Rhys Chatham |
| camera | Christos Karamanis |
| cut | Danielle Anezin |
| occupation | |
| |
Soy Nero (from the Spanish I am Nero ) is a film drama by Rafi Pitts that premiered on February 16, 2016 as part of the Berlin International Film Festival and will be presented in selected German cinemas from November 10, 2016. The film is based on the experiences of the Mexican Daniel Torres, who served in the Iraq war and was then deported back to Tijuana .
action
On New Year's Eve, Nero climbs over a border fence from Mexico to the USA when the US border patrols are watching the fireworks. There he wants to become a soldier in order to benefit from the Dream Act and thus be able to live in the USA. Nero had already been deported back to Mexico several times as an immigrant. After successfully crossing the border, he visits his brother Jesus in Beverly Hills , who works as an employee of a noble estate. He receives his ID card and enrolls in the army in order to be able to accept American citizenship as a green card soldier after two years of military service, because anyone who declares himself willing to go to the war on terror for the United States will be after the Use the prospect of receiving the longed-for green card. Soon Nero finds himself somewhere in Iraq , where he is serving as a soldier in a small unit. He guards a checkpoint that is ultimately the target of a bomb attack. Nero flees with the other soldiers and is the only one alive after an exchange of fire. When he finally meets a US patrol, he is arrested by them and then released again in the desert because he cannot identify himself.
background
The film is based on the experiences of the Mexican Daniel Torres, who served in the Iraq war. Torres came to the United States illegally with his family as a child, enlisted in the Marines in 2007 and was then sent to Iraq. Torres said he did not want to live illegally in the United States like all other Mexicans. During a training session, however, Torres lost his wallet, and when he applied for new ID, it was discovered that he had presented a false birth certificate when applying to the military, which meant that his green card was no longer granted and he could no longer legally obtain his Families in the US could return. However, Torres was not dishonorable, but discharged from the army with a general discharge , which he owed to his superior, who stood up for him. Because Torres was injured in Iraq and he was no longer fit for duty, he was given accommodation in the Deported Veterans Support House in Tijuana, known as The Bunker . Torres now works as a paralegal during the day and attends law school in the evening.
Of the 54 million Hispanics who are the largest minority in the United States, 34.5 million were of Mexican origin in 2013 alone. Estimates of illegal immigrants vary between 7 and 20 million. Hundreds of thousands illegally cross the southern border of the United States every year, many of them unaccompanied minors.
production
Staff and cast
Iranian director Rafi Pitts , who previously competed twice in the Berlinale competition with It's Winter Time and The Hunter , but is now banned from shooting in his home country, presented his latest film in 2016 at the film festival. Daniel Torres advised the director on his film project. As to his specific motivation for dealing with overcoming boundaries, Pitts said: I don't like walls. I think people don't need walls. That only creates anger and it doesn't prevent anything. You can always overcome fences or walls. And so I fight against it. Pitts wrote the script for the film together with Razvan Radulescu .
The role of the protagonist Nero was taken on by the American singer and actor Johnny Ortiz . The American Khleo Thomas , who plays his comrade Mohammed in the film, is also an actor and rapper. The American actors Rory Cochrane , Michael J. Harney and Alex Frost cast the roles of Seymour, Sergeant McCloud and the Beverly Hills Police Officer, the English actor Aml Ameen those of the Bronx. Ian Casselberry , who plays Nero's brother Jesus in the film, has played many roles from Hispanics in the past.
Filming and funding
The film was shot on location in northwest Mexico, for example in the cities of Tijuana and Mexicali in the state of Baja California and in the adjacent deserts. The city is located directly on the border with the USA, just a few kilometers south of San Diego. These places also served as a backdrop for the Middle East in the film . Further recordings were made in Palm Springs and Los Angeles . The recordings were made on 35 mm film .
The film was funded by the Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA) and the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg , among others .
publication
The film celebrated its premiere on February 16, 2016 as part of the Berlin International Film Festival . The film was presented at the Locarno International Film Festival in August 2016 and at the Miami Film Festival on October 16, 2016. The film was officially released in selected German cinemas on November 10, 2016. A theatrical release in the USA took place on September 29, 2017. The first broadcast on German free TV is to take place on November 12, 2018 on Arte .
reception
Age rating
In Germany, the film is FSK 12. The statement of reasons for the release states: “The film, told overall calmly and episodically, contains some intense war scenes, especially towards the end, in which people die. However, these scenes do not seem sensational and are not played out for their own sake, so that children from the age of 12 are not overwhelmed by them. Children from the age of 12 are also able to classify, question and process the war scenes in the context of the overall socially critical action. "
Reviews
Patrick Wellinski from Deutschlandradio Kultur thinks the approach of the film is worthy and appreciates the director's plan, describing the calm in Pitts' narrative style as the greatest triumph of the film . However, the film suffers from juxtapositions that are too rough and very striking . Carsten Beyer from RBB Kulturradio describes that the director prefers to concentrate on individual chamber play-like episodes , which in his opinion has its charm, especially when Mexican and American young people play volleyball over the border fence. Beyer describes Soy Nero as a modern version of the fairy tale of Hans im Glück with dramaturgical weaknesses and sums up that the film lacks density: Instead of devoting himself to the fate of its protagonist, Pitts loses himself in contemplating freaks and outcasts who target them accompany his way. Even the end doesn't really reconcile, in which the circle at the beginning of the Odyssey seems to come full again. Andreas Fanizadeh from taz also thinks: The Pitts theme is well chosen, but cinematically you miss the earlier class. The characters in 'Soy Nero' lack depth, scenes, and images of the border fence, Los Angeles or the desert war seem clichéd and lack a narrative of their own.
A film bloggers from filmosophie.com be criticized also the connection of the storylines and locations that are only loosely by the protagonist Nero into context accommodated: The camera follows him on his winding paths and lets the drama narrative on the principle of a road movie work ; one station at a time. The crucial difference is that here the journey is not the goal, but rather just a means to an end for the protagonist. And so, in retrospect, the individual phases of the film seem a bit loveless and disjointed. In addition, Pitts sometimes makes it a little easy for himself, despite moving moments and increasing sympathy for the protagonist, when it comes to working towards his own position.
Wolfgang Höbel from Spiegel describes Soy Nero as a propaganda film that is fairly easy to grasp, because he denounces the real practice of expulsion of Mexican migrants by the US authorities. According to Höbel, this is an actual practice in which the US Army lures young illegal Mexicans who are already living in the country to armed service with a repeatedly broken promise that they will be rewarded with a green card on their return. In the divergence of the three narrative levels in the film, Höbel sees an attempt to depict a heaven-and-hell universe in which the fun of one can only be had through the misfortune of the other, which is the deeper truth of the film.
Awards (selection)
Berlin International Film Festival 2016
- Nomination for the Golden Bear ( Rafi Pitts )
- Nomination for the Amnesty International Film Prize
Bucharest International Film Festival 2016
- Award for best film (Rafi Pitts)
Web links
- Soy Nero in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Soy Nero in the German dubbing index
- Soy Nero in the program of the 66th Berlinale
- Rafi Pitts in an interview with Spiegel Online
- Rafi Pitts in an interview with epd Film
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for Soy Nero . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 161944 / K).
- ↑ a b Christiane Peitz: 'Soy Nero' at the Berlinale. My life for an identity card In: Der Tagesspiegel, February 16, 2016.
- ^ J. Pepper Bryars: Conservatives should help our 'banished veterans' In: al.com, January 20, 2016.
- ↑ Hollie McKay: Banished US veterans lean on each other south of border In: foxnews.com, January 31, 2016.
- ^ We the People: Hispanics in the United States In: census.gov. Accessed February 20, 2016 (PDF; 430 kB)
- ↑ Hispanic or Latino Origin by Specific Origin In: factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
- ↑ Brad Knickerbocker: Illegal immigrants in the US: How many are there? in: The Christian Science Monitor, May 16, 2006.
- ↑ 'Soy Nero' by Rafi Pitts - Migration Problems In: cinema.arte.tv, February 19, 2016.
- ^ Anke Westphal: Berlinale Competition. A great writer, but a ridiculous person In: Berliner Zeitung, February 16, 2016.
- ↑ Rafi Pitts in an interview with Susanne Burg: Rafi Pitts on 'Soy Nero': 'The most absurd border is the one between Mexico and the USA' In: Deutschlandradio Kultur, February 16, 2016.
- ^ Ian Casselberry In: imdb.com. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
- ↑ Neil Young: 'Berlin 2016': Soy Nero In: rogerebert.com, February 18, 2016.
- ↑ Tiffany Pritchard: Berlin Q&A: Rafi Pitts, 'Soy Nero' In: screendaily.com, February 19, 2016.
- ↑ 66th Berlin International Film Festival. The complete festival program ( Memento of the original from December 8th, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: berlinale.de. Accessed February 10, 2017 (PDF; 18.9 MB)
- ↑ Madeleine Marr: Two red carpet movie premieres in Miami In: miamiherald.com, October 17, 2016.
- ↑ Robert Hofmann: Soy Nero - Trailer Check ( Memento of the original from August 30, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: giga.de, August 20, 2016
- ^ Reasons for approval for Soy Nero In: Voluntary self-control of the film industry. Retrieved November 10, 2016.
- ↑ Patrick Wellinski: Audio "Berlinale Criticism Competition: 'Soy Nero' 'Genius' ( Memento of the original from February 17, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. In: Deutschlandradio Kultur, February 17, 2016 (mp3)
- ↑ Carsten Beyer: Soy Nero ( Memento of the original from May 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: RBB Kulturradio, February 16, 2016.
- ↑ Andreas Fanizadeh: Over the fence to the army. In Rafi Pitts' migrant drama “Soy Nero”, a young Mexican is looking for a ticket to the world of the rich and beautiful In: taz, February 19, 2016.
- ^ Berlinale Competition 2016: Soy Nero In: filmosophie.com, February 17, 2016.
- ↑ Wolfgang Höbel: Green card only against combat use. Deadly Lure In: Spiegel Online, November 8, 2016.
- ↑ 15 Berlinale films nominated for the Amnesty Film Prize 2016 In: amnesty.de, February 9, 2016.
