Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei (2004)

Director:

Hans Weingartner

Writers:

Katharina Held (writer)
Hans Weingartner (writer)

Release Date:

25 November 2004 (Austria)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Every Heart is a revolutionary cell

Plot:

Three activists cobble together a kidnapping plot after they encounter a businessman in his home.

Plot Keywords:

Businessman | Love Triangle | Villa | Debt | Kidnapping

Awards:

8 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Daniel Brühl	...	Jan
Julia Jentsch	...	Jule
Stipe Erceg	...	Peter
Burghart Klaußner	...	Hardenberg (as Burghart Klaussner)
Peer Martiny	...	Villenbesitzer Jürgen
Petra Zieser	...	Villenbesitzerin
Laura Schmidt	...	Tochter Laura
Sebastian Butz	...	Sohn
Oliver Bröcker	...	Aggressiver Globalisierungsgegner
Knut Berger	...	Globalisierungsgegner
Hanns Zischler	...	Vermieter
Claudio Caiolo	...	Paolo
Bernhard Bettermann	...	Jules Chef
Sylvia Haider	...	Neureiche Frau 1
Claudia Jakobshagen	...	Neureiche Frau 2

Also Known As:

The Edukators (Australia) (Europe: English title) (festival title) (UK) (USA)

MPAA:

Rated R for language, a scene of sexuality, and some drug use.

Runtime:

France:127 min | Argentina:127 min

Country:

Germany | Austria

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Taiwan:PG-12 | Finland:K-15 | Singapore:M18 | Australia:M | Italy:T | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Hungary:14 | Ireland:15A | South Korea:15 | Brazil:14 | Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | Czech Republic:12 | USA:R | Japan:PG-12 | Norway:11

Filming Locations:

Achenkirch, Tirol, Austria

Company:

Y3 Film

Trivia:

The tagline in the English-language releases of the film, "Your days of plenty are numbered", is a direct translation of the film's original German title.

Goofs:

Continuity: When showing the photo of the Mediterranean Island they plan to sabotage, the photo is shown in Portrait orientation when seen from the back and in Landscape orientation when seen from the front.

Quotes:

Jan: Fear is a powerful drug when you learn to use it.

Movie Connections:

References The Matrix (1999)

Soundtrack:

Knights of the Jaguar

"You have too much money."

Don't let anyone tell you horror stories about the camera work, they probably never had an ounce of imagination anywhere in their bodies!

For those of us who are bored blind with standard Hollywood-ian movies, this kind of camera work is very refreshing. The constant motion puts us right into the characters' world and helps foster an instant connection with them. Not that one wouldn't connect with them without the fancy directing! On the contrary, Jan, Jule, and Peter will reawaken the idealist in anyone.

The movie is essentially about three friends with seemingly no particular direction in life other than petty political activism now and then. But Peter and Jan have found a very clever way of subverting the socio-economic system they so despise. Calling themselves "the Edukators", they break into the homes of the fabulously wealthy only to make some absurd adjustments to the arrangement of their furniture and leave a simple note behind: "You have too much money."

With this basic plot, The Edukators delves into that ill-defined human notion of morality, eventually blurring the line between the ethics of social politics and the ethics of personal relationships.

Don't let the plot scare you, you don't have to be an anarchist to enjoy this movie! It's well-written, beautifully shot, and flawlessly performed. Some of the drawbacks are that it gets a little long and preachy at the end (which happens fairly often to new directors), but let's not nitpick. I'm willing to gloss over the film's (rare) faults because, in the end, there is far too much to take home from this movie. It's a real shame that some would wish to dismiss it as some crackpot anarchist film.