Normally I'm not particularly fond of movies about mental illness and I hate it when an actor automatically gets an Academy Award just because he plays another autistic person or Alzheimer patient. "Das weisse Rauschen" is the exception to the rule. In this film you really get an insight into the mind of a paranoid schizophrenic (played brilliantly by Daniel Brühl - he deserves every award that he got already or will get in the future), because it is so well researched that it appears 100% authentic (the director studied neurology).
And yet the film does not become a clinical case study, but tells an interesting story about a young man, Lukas, who moves to Cologne to share a flat with his older sister Kati (Anabelle Lachatte) and her friend Jochen. At first everything is going fine; they spend their days taking drugs and having fun, but when he abandons his university studies on the first day just because he can't find the enrolment office and when a date with a girl goes a little bit wrong ;-) the audience begins to suspect that there's something wrong with Lukas. After the schizophrenia first breaks out, the movie becomes a very intense experience (similar to the films of Darren Aronofsky or even to "Das Experiment"), because on the sound track you hear the same cacophony of voices that begin to torment Lukas.
Without exception the acting is great. Anabelle Lachatte's character (sexy as hell, but very down-to-earth) may be the worst help a "madman" can get, but it's always clear that she loves her brother and would do anything to help him. Katharina Schüttler in her small role is as good as always. The cinematography has the look and feel of a "Dogma film", but for once it didn't make me dizzy.
All in all, I would say that in comparison to "A Beautiful Mind", "Das weisse Rauschen" is the better film ... much better.
