Verbrannte Erde

During the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin, the audience was able to see how the professional criminal Trojan (Misel MATICEVIC) from IM SCHATTEN (2010) had to leave the capital for an indefinite period of time. Trojan still operates in a rather analogue way: old-fashioned crimes such as stealing tangible objects such as watches, cash and paintings. No connections to a mafia or clan structure, a lone fighter, only occasionally and out of necessity on the team! When a coup in the Ruhr area does not go as planned, Trojan has to return to Berlin to tap into old contacts (Marie-Lou SELLEM). And indeed: Together with three comrades (Tim SEYFI, Marie LEUENBERGER, Bilge BINGÜL), Trojan manages to steal a valuable painting by Caspar David FRIEDRICH. But then the trouble with the mysterious client Viktor (Alexander FEHLING) really starts...

At the BERLINALE 2010, IM SCHATTEN by Braunschweig-born director Thomas ARSLAN hit like a long-awaited genre bomb. An exciting genre film made in Germany was told using the cinematic means of the Berlin School. Extremely exciting, with sparse dialogue and explosive violent moments! ARSLAN follows on from this with VERBRANNTE ERDE seemingly seamlessly. Gangster films are still a rarity in German cinema. With cool precision, the images by cameraman Reinhold VORSCHNEIDER (also IM SCHATTEN) tell of people who live in a shadow version of Germany. Dark places, in the shadow of nearby sights, and yet far away from the perception of the police and the normal population. Berlin appears as a co-player and opponent of the film's protagonists. The understated music by Norwegian composer Ola FLOTTUM (THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD, 2021) contributes a lot to this tense atmosphere. It shows a capital that you know and yet don't. Many viewers will be able to recognize this urban sprawl with all its roads from their own surroundings. Ghostly places very close to us: scorched earth in the shadows!

Misel MATICEVIC (IN THE FACE OF CRIME / BABYLON BERLIN) is once again very convincing in the role of Trojan, of whom we will probably see more (Thomas ARSLAN is planning a kind of Trojan trilogy). GERMAN FILM AWARD nominee Marie Lou SELLEM (nominated for KNOCHEN UND NAMEN / BONES AND NAMES in 2024) is there as the ice-cold mediator. But GERMAN FILM AWARD winner Alexander FEHLING (2019 winner for DAS ENDE DER WAHRHEIT / THE END OF THE TRUTH) is frighteningly good and really doesn't have to hide from classic villains like Klaus KINSKI and Michael FASSBENDER.

Thomas ARSLAN doesn't want to take as much time with the third film in his Trojan trilogy as he did between 2010 and 2024. It remains exciting!

Berlin, how beautiful you are. Your splashes of colour are always on a grey background, your sound is unpleasant, your light shines artificially, you seem crazy because you crazy people are a magnet, a Moloch, you are legendary, but why, for what? There's a heist film today, without the tinsel. One that lives less from suspense and action than from its mood. Minimalist, sparse, joyless, gloomy. Like Berlin, but different, because 'Scorched Earth' is certainly not gossipy and self-promoting. The characters are at the centre of life, not in a bubble. Scarred, lonely, disillusioned. Every straw means all in. And when it's over, well, that's just the way it is. I can't remember the content of its predecessor, but it doesn't matter, because this is an independent work. Not a bad one, on the contrary, but with the feeling of watching a better 'Tatort'. But without badly cast detectives and a director who thinks he's one. For the primitive 'Tatort' audience, however, this film is probably not for them after all - they are not being taken for fools here.

I was rather reluctant that day to see this film, I thought another dark noir experiment. But I love the actor Misel Maticevic and I had seen films by Thomas Arslan, though not the first installment of this triptych, Im Schatten (In the Shadow), so I went to the theater. Right away I found myself deeply involved in a classic masterpiece, a heist movie, but quite different. It had me at the first 5 minutes when you get only action, no talk. On the whole, not a lot of talk, but when it happens, it's perfect and to the point and gives you background of the characters or moves the story forward. You expect violence in a heist gone awry, and indeed it's present, but rather implied through words and results, the camera does not pry on it, so your imagination can fill in the blanks - all the more terrifying. A lot of driving is done, mostly at night, through a rather bleak cityscape, quite a different aspect of the majestic Berlin. My only objection: just a trifle less of driving would have been more. Kudos to Mr. Arslan for this marvelous piece of rigorous aethetics where not one frame is wrong. And Kudos to the actors who are so good you don't forget one face even if it was onscreen for only 2 minutes (the watch buyer, the old friend become evil, the old friend gone legit). I can't wait to see the third part of the trilogy which I read is in the making.

It's not a bad film - has that signature slow-burn pacing and some really striking minimalist visuals. The director builds atmosphere well, but at its core it's just another heist movie, though the characters do feel authentic. No plot twists here. The characters exist in this flat world where we just watch events unfold slowly - no real development, barely any dialogue, they just do what they're supposed to. That's minimalist crime for you.

It's decent, but ultimately disappointing - so much feels unsaid and underdeveloped. No depth to the characters, no emotional punches. Could've been so much more... Real shame too, because the story had potential, the actors are good, and the director has an interesting way of telling it... But if it had just asked one meaningful question, the whole thing would've felt more complete.