Change Your Image
crashmirko
Reviews
Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei (2004)
Totally average or even worse...
The first movie by Weingartner "Das Weisse Rauschen" was really good, but the new one was pretty disappointing. I never believed the main actors though Stipe Erceg was playing pretty good. They were simply not convincing as rebels and especially their point of views were not convincing. The story was full of clichés. The beginning where Sweatshop activists tried to make people to feel guilty just because of buying a sneaker... it simply made me angry. First of all, as if "Western" wages would help to diminish the problem of child labor... Furthermore the police operation was totally exaggerated (like towards the end of the movie). The comparison between developing and developed countries lacks economical knowledge. Wages in our countries are higher simply because of higher productivity. Just read a standard economics book. Furthermore you should read the facts! Only 8 % of all child laborers are employed in manufacturing. More than 70 % work in agriculture and work for their families... So what would for instance a child labor ban cause? It would simply be the wrong solution, because children would be withdrawn from the exporting manufacturing market (especially the so called sweatshop FTA factories pay higher wages than other sectors - just read the statistics) and simply be redistributed. It is highly likely that the situation of the children just worsens. Even when these people earn 30 Euros/Dollars a month you simply cannot compare it. You will have to see the relative prices (Purchasing Power Parity). These people can buy the same things that we can buy for maybe 600 Euros whatever. I don't know I'm sick of these stupid discussions, I just could not believe how naive the main characters were presented, especially Daniel Brühl. He was not plausible. Obviously he needed a beard to look rebellious. As if a beard makes you rebellious or smart. I mean, just showing a flat that looks kind of gross does not mean that these guys are kind of little Che Guevaras. Of course the girl was working in a first class restaurant where she had to serve these "fat cat capitalists" who earn 3.4 Million Euros etc. a year. It is no problem at all to find a job in Berlin, whereas the movie gave the impression that it is hard. What did we learn about the main characters at all? Nothing... Nothing about a social background, why they believe in their views... To my mind they were just envious "losers". Obviously the guys were "nothing" (at least the movie did not tell whether they were students whatever). Of course, the growing inequality of wages in developed countries is a bad development, but it is just the wages of highly educated people that have risen more than the wages of "uneducated" people. I think it is fair to some point. Just remember how much people have to invest in their education, so why shouldn't they earn more? I could not understand why the director simply delivered the typical clichés, e.g. when Daniel Brühl was asking why we don't release the developing countries from their debts... These countries mainly need political stability, a working democracy, better education. Money does not solve the problem. Maybe the movie is not intended for people like me (Economics student)... I was highly disappointed by the story and especially by Daniel Brühl. Also the music was not well chosen. This Jeff Buckley song had nothing to do with the story. Halleluja. Anyway, if you like predictable stories (especially predictable love stories) you can watch this movie. If you like movies that tell well-crafted stories I cannot recommend this one.
There are much much better German movies out there. 3,5 out of 10 points
Erbsen auf halb 6 (2004)
Awesome, really touching 10++++++
To my mind this movie is a really outstanding production. The actors deliver superior performances, the script is wonderful, the pictures just beautiful and the music makes it to a masterpiece....
This movie is about a young director for stage plays who becomes blind due to a car accident. Of course he can't handle the situation, is confused and desperate. He meets this girl who is blind since her birth. She works for a rehab center and wants to help him to manage his life.... Somehow I don't wanna tell more: It turns into a road trip to Onega, Russia, where he wants to visit his mother who is going to die.
Definitely a must see movie!