THE EDUKATORS

Original title

The Edukators (Die fetten jahre sind vorbei)

Year

2004

Duration

127 minutes.

Country

Germany  

Director

Hans Weingartner

Script

Katharina Held, Hans Weingartner

Music

Andreas Wodraschke

Photography

Matthias Schellenberg, Daniela Knapp

Cast

Julia Jentsch, Daniel Brühl, Stipe Erceg, Burghart Klauβner, Petra Zieser, Knut Berger, Hanns Zischler, Oliver Bröcker, Peer Martiny    

Producer

Y3 Film / Coop 99

          Genre   Drama

Awards

2004: 2 German Film Awards: 2nd Best Film and Supporting actor (Klauβner)

2004: Cannes Film Festival: nominated to the Palme d'Or (best film)

SYNOPSIS 

Jan and Peter are two friends who fight against political injustices. But they do it in a very peculiar way: they enter in the houses of the rich people, and modify furniture positioning. They do not stole, and they do not do violent actions. When they left from the houses, they signed a note with the name “The Edukators”. Their objective is to scare homeowners and let them see that all their luxuries are unnecessary.

Jule, Peter’s girlfriend, does not know that their friends are the “edukators”. Years ago, she had a car accident with a business man called Hardenberg. She has to pay him a lot of money due to the damage she caused on the car. So Jule is in debt and she has to left her flat and she goes to Peter’s apartment.

Peter travels to Barcelona for a few days, ad Jule begins to meet Jan. Both go to Hardenberg’s house, and they misplace the furniture. The next day they have to return because Jule has left her mobile phone. But Hardenberg arrives home and discovers the two friends. They decide to kidnap and take him to a house in the mountain.

They live together during some weeks, and they begin to meet each other better. They realize that Hardenberg is a good man that, therefore he has a lot of money, he is not happy.

The guys decide to take him home. The rich man promises not to tell the police about the kidnapping, and promises Jule to forgive the debt. 

CHARACTERS

- JAN: he's very radical regarding to refuse capitalist system. He fights against political injustices. He lives wth Peter, and he will fall in lve with Jule, his friend's girlfriend. 

- PETER: he wants to generate changes in the minds of people, but he is not so extremist. 

- JULE: Peter's girlfriend. Due to an accident she had years ago, she owes a lot of money to Hardenberg. She has to left her flat, because she is ruined and she can't pay the rent, and she goes to her boyfriend's apartment. Here, she starts to meet Jan, who she will end up falling in love with. 
It's important to emphasize how her mentality develops: first of all she is a girl whith an mortgage because of a traffic accident, and later she begins to reconsider some questions, like if it is fair to mortgage her life for a man that won't value it because he has a fortune.

- HARDENBERG: business and rich man, he does not feel fulfilled with his money and his luxuries. When he goes to the mountain with the guys he starts to enjoy simple things in life, like cooking, etc. When he spends time with them, he realizes that all he has are unnecessary things that do not make him feel happy. Moreover, the experience with the guys reminds him of the ideals for which he fought when he was younger and which he has lost due to getting older.

The film sets out the issue of the struggle for a new and better world through social movements. There is a reflection on what has to be the right way to build this new world. It considerers if it is necessary to end or not with the rich, whether or not it is lawful violence to achieve that other world, and also appears the question of what persists in the time of our dreams or ideals.

The young protagonists pursue a set of ideals that oppose to the adult world, but those ideals do not make them forget they also have some principles and they have to act following them. Wanting to educate the others reflects the desire to change others according to their way of seeing the world. Throughout the film are showed the discrepancies between Jan and Peter in relation to the media they have to use to get their purpose. Jule also shares the ideals of his friends, and she is who is suffering more directly the injustice of the system.

Hardenberg’s kidnapping offers the possibility to know another point of view. In a certain way, he sees himself reflected in the idealism of youth. On May 68 he was like them, but the years have made him forget all his ideals of freedom. Initially he justifies himself by this, but then he shames. 

The film also is about other issues: social and personal revolution, the struggle for justice, consumerism, friendship, love, the importance of being against having ...