Ilker Çatak succeeds in making the novel “Räuberhände” one of the best German coming-of-age films.
If one could wish for a Phoenix that could rise from the ashes of the lockdown period, it would be German cinema. But as in Cannes, it is practically invisible at the Venice Festival. One could discuss for a long time what structurally drove German film into its own crisis even before Corona, but that would be extremely unfair at this point in time. Now the main thing is to rescue the pearls from the corona dust so that they do not drown in the flood of the theatrical releases.
In a just world, a “robber hands”, Ilker Çatak’s film adaptation of the novel by Finn-Ole Heinrichs, which was filmed in 2019, would have long since met with the “German Film Prize”. It is the rarest rarity in German cinema, an artistic film for a wide audience, warm-hearted and yet unsentimental. He makes everything that goes wrong so often shine – the role models, social conflicts, sexuality.
As a coming-of-age film, it is on par with the two young men in question, two high school graduates, for whom friendship, mutual self-discovery and their sense of freedom for a fleeting moment in life are more important than anything else. There probably couldn’t have been a better moment for this film to be discovered than this moment of freedoms regained. That’s why you have to see it quickly, because even films are only young once.
The filmmaker is aware of the social positioning of his characters every second without making a big topic out of it. How he makes the longings of his protagonists, two 18-year-olds who set out to Istanbul without a return ticket, sparkle without forcing them into the gears of a tried and tested genre.
A film of this quality would actually be shown at a major international festival, but that might again be countered by the modesty of the artistic approach. Because Çatak’s art is of the unobtrusive kind. She probably already connects this with the novel that is popular as school reading in Germany.
A critic wrote about it at the time that it was a successful coming-of-age novel. But then it’s a shame that it’s “just” a coming-of-age novel. What is so bad about the “genre” of the “young Werther” and the “catcher in the rye”? It is the kind of book that a student discovers and never forgets again. It is probably the most important genre of all because it introduces us not only to life but also to art.
But that’s the way it is, also in German film: The mere fact that they prefer to appeal to a young audience means that such important directors as Hark Bohm, Haro Senft or Michael Verhoeven are always in the “second row” when it comes to critical perception. of the New German Film. And now, in addition to school reading, there is a congenial film that will make it difficult for German teachers to uphold the popular rule that books are almost always superior to their adaptations.
The brilliant dialogues are not more important than the lyrics. The mood is carried by an intoxicating flow of images (camera: Judith Kaufmann). At first he appears as carefree as Janik, played by Emil von Schönfels, seems to be embracing his blossoming life. Only incidentally penetrates what he only learns to evaluate later: The social hardship of his best friend Samuel (Mekyas Mulugeta), with whose addictive mother Janik has a sexual experience. The value of a protective home or, ultimately, the incompatibility of rapidly changing concepts of life.
The social contrast in the origins of the characters could easily have gained the upper hand. But Ilker Çatak is not Ken Loach; he leaves the subject of “classicism”, which is preventing Central European societies so much from social redistribution, in the background. It is initially expected that cultural or ethnic differences could lead to the decisive dramatic conflicts in history – Samuel first surprised his friend in Turkey by looking for his unknown father there.
Elsewhere, the search for sexual orientation seems to be becoming a major motive, but none of this is gaining the upper hand, and that is really unusual, especially in youth dramas: Çatak has not made a “topical” or themed film. His lyrical drama tells of young people who are just about to discover happiness and sadness, their opportunities and needs for themselves. It is a chaotic phase of life, and no “proper” film goes with it.
Even the last of the director was a relational piece against the background of cultural differences. “The spoken word counts”, the drama about a marriage of convenience, was also masterful. But what a change of mood: All the romance that this director’s earlier film withheld comes back twice – but freed from the conventions of a love story. But that is also a wonderful, rarely recorded topic of puberty – the exploration of sexuality, partnership, love in couple relationships or in the family.
In a wonderful dialogue, the boys briefly argue about which of their cultures the words “Simsalabim” and “Abracadabra” come from. From the director’s point of view, it doesn’t make much difference. The main thing is that you can do magic.
Robber hands. D 2021. Director: Ilker Çatak. 89 minutes.
