Wut

'Rage' ('Wut') is a film made for German TV about Turks in Germany. It was written and directed by a man born in Turkey who has lived in Germany most of his life and studied film-making there, just as the younger winner of the top prize in Berlin in 2004, Faith Akin of 'Head-On' ('Gegen die Wind'), was trained in the arts in Germany but identifies with the Turkish minority. While Akin's approach is complex and ironic, Aladag treats the German-Turkish conflicts schematically and simplistically.

Can (Oktay Özdemir) (pronounced like "John") is a cocky young Turk with bad teeth and a ponytail who is beating up and extorting money from Felix Laub (Robert Höler), a "nice" German boy on a daily basis. When Can Steals Felix's expensive sneakers his father Simon (August Zirner) finds out what has been going on and gets very angry.

The practical question is: what do you do in such a situation, since any action against Can and his gang might lead to reprisals? Felix may be wise to take the beatings and give the money, but he's in a dangerous situation. And Can, of course, is full of rage, and that's why tormenting Felix provides him with so much pleasure. Needless to say, there are other ways of expressing rage, like growing up and trying to campaign for one's rights. But 'Rage' simply exists within a context of the failure of Germany's "guest worker" program and the roiling discontent of the large Turkish minority of which both Can and Felix are victims.

'Rage' skewers middle class liberal German families that try to be "nice," aren't overtly racist toward the large Turkish population, and turn the other cheek when they are attacked, due in part in Simon's case, to what his son calls his "Hitler complex." Felix's father Simon (August Zirner) is a university philosophy teacher (soon to be promoted to full professor) who dates his young girl students, and his mother Christa (Corinna Harfouch) sells real estate and is having an affair with one of Simon's best friends. The film suggests middle class German liberals are spineless and morally weak; and in a sense questions Simon's masculinity, or at least his physical courage (though not Felix's). (Simon fails again and again to control Can and late in the picture is barely saved from committing an act of terrible cowardice, but still ends by exacting revenge.) Presumably there are more things in Heaven and earth than are dreamt of in Simon's philosophy, and these include knowing how to give someone "a good hiding," as the subtitles somewhat primly put it. He eventually gets Michael (Ralph Herforth) -- who he is soon to discover is his wife's current lover -- to deliver the "hiding" to Can for him. Can's behavior is so provocative -- the film itself is nothing if not provocative, at the cost of subtlety and even believability -- that one wonders if they have court orders in Germany. The Turkish guy not only is a danger to Felix, but enters his parents' house repeatedly and menaces and abuses them and breaks things.

But before things get that far, Simon goes to Can's apartment and asks his father, an older man, to make Can return the sneakers. Can brings them right away, in a bag, but this is when he first enters the Laubs' house and prances around abusing and mocking them. One wonders if Aladag hasn't spent some time studying the films of Michael Haneke. The climactic sequence in which Can gets really nasty seems as if it may owe a good deal to Haneke's 1997 'Funny Games.' In that, a pair of punks torment a family and make them play sadistic games with each other. Can is accused of only being brave when with his fellow punks, but in fact he does very well on his own. The young actor, Oktay Özdemir, deserves credit for playing with great boldness and conviction. On the other hand the German principals are cardboard figures. Christa is a stiff, bitchy wife, full of innuendos about her husband's spinelessness; Simon indeed seems incredibly wishy-washy, and poor Felix is a ridiculous good boy, polite to his parents, but equally eager to be Can's "friend" and convinced when Can with obvious mockery says they are "brothers." When Simon has reached his limit with Can, he manages to get him arrested for drug dealing, even though Felix was one of the customers he spied and in the police station Felix refuses to bear any witness to Can's criminal activity. Generations are in conflict, even though Felix and Simon don't fight. Can's father disowns him and Can weeps when he realizes this -- his sole moment of weakness.

'Rage' makes its points economically. The screenplay is swift-moving and pointed. The film tends to seem crude and exaggerated; there is no nuance in it. Conversely it is enormously effective in its clear aim of making viewers uncomfortable and illustrating the titular rage of young Turks.

Though there's no indication that Can's dignified, older father (Demir Gökgöl) is really poor, it's also clear that he's less well off than the Laubs. (Apparently the reason an associate professor has such an impressive spread is parental money.) Aladag has stated that for him Can is a hero, but this is a sad thing to know. Can is a prancing bully. Akin's anti-hero in 'Head-On,' Cahit, also wants to destroy himself as Can does, but the reasons are more complex, and in the hands of the immensely charismatic Birol Ünel, Cahit is funny and appealing. Two different approaches, both perhaps with their validity. If Aladag's 'Rage' arouses worthwhile debate of issues Germans have been unwilling to speak of, it will have had a positive value. But it feels like a film that would mostly just polarize or repel people.

Shown as part of the San Francisco International Film Festival 2007.

A real sucker for any sort of German film (yes, even a television one), I was very pleased to encounter Wut being shown here on Irish television. Claiming to deal with themes of racism and identity within society, I happily sat back to watch.

Can is a Turkish teen living in Germany. One of two sons living with his elderly father, he is something of a mischief maker. He supplies drugs to the notably better off Felix, achieving laughs and entertainment at the expense of the upper class boy. Eventually, Felix's father learns of Can's escalating bullying of his son, and steps in to stop it.

Wut effectively portrays racial and class barriers in modern German society. The interaction between Felix and Can is fully believable, Can's sinister aura wonderfully hair-raising. Key to the film, the anti- hero is given humanity: a very powerful device which allows us to sympathise with him to a degree, giving us much to think about and forcing us to question the actions of some of the "more moral" characters we might traditionally find ourselves rooting for. The father's gradual realisation that he is all but powerless to stop the oppressive gang leader is an idea well conveyed by the emasculated performance of August Zirner. Felix's slow but steady idolisation of the powerful alpha-male who acts with far more paternal influence and masculinity than his father ever could has us biting our nails and worrying uneasily where the story will take us. Its eventual twists and turns are unforeseen, shocking, and tangibly dramatic, leading us to an interesting climax. In itself, however, the climax is somewhat lacking and flawed, though intriguing. The film achieves its intention, successfully acting as a catalyst to consideration, but not without bumps along the way.

Though marred by certain problems and not consistently gripping, Wut does encourage us to consider the message at its heart. The true appeal of the film lies in Felix's falling for the serpentine hissings of Can, fuelled by his disillusion with the world around him. Quite enjoyable as a whole, you could find far worse ways to spend time than watching Wut.

Outside Turkey, Germany is the home for the largest Turkish community in the world with several millions of people of Turkish heritage living in the country. Naturally, Turkish-German film directors have also started leaving their mark on the country's long cinematic tradition, the most important such filmmaker being F a t i h Akin who is known for movies like Head-On (2004) and The Edge of Heaven (2007). Another director who has examined the relations of Turks and native Germans in his work is Züli Aladag whose 2006 TV movie Rage raised some controversy upon its initial release in Germany.

Among the protagonists of the movie is Felix Laub (Robert Höller), the teenage son of a wealthy university professor of literature Simon Laub (August Zirner). When Felix is repeatedly bullied and robbed by a Turkish gang led by the ruthless thug Can (Oktay Özdemir), the moderately liberal Simon and his wife Christa (Corinna Harfouch) try various methods to sort out the problems between Felix and Can but only seem to make things worse. Ultimately peaceful methods cease to be the only ones considered by Simon and a dramatic showdown is inevitable.

Rage works interestingly on both general and personal levels and avoids giving easy answers to the problems portrayed. In the core of the story is the conflicting relationship of Felix and Can: the former keeps coming back to the latter despite the mistreat, but at times they get along pretty well. By hanging out with Can's gang Felix is probably rebelling against his mild-mannered father who is indeed accused of being aloof even by his wife. Under their successful surface Felix's parents are far from perfect but Can is not free of familial troubles either, although he has caused his situation himself by clinging to his self-applied tough guy image despite his inner insecurity – he is by no means a mere victim of circumstances.

Besides the grassroot level changes in the characters' attitudes, there is an underlying theme of the whole country's stance on problems related to immigration. Demands for tougher laws regarding the matter easily evoke unpleasant connotations to Germany's Nazi past, so the issue is even more sensitive there than in many other countries. During Rage's Funny Games-style finale the suspense thickens pretty excitingly and the viewer becomes anxious to find out how the situation is resolved since it would be tempting to interpret the ending as the movie's message or stance on the issue: who (if anyone) gets killed and is the act portrayed as heroic or cowardly? Without spoiling anything, the story and the mood are rather pessimistic about there being a neat little solution that would satisfy both parties.

Visually the movie is nothing very absorbing and the ending feels slightly rushed, but all in all I think Rage is worth seeing among its peers, i.e. films portraying conflict between ethnic groups. The German protagonists feel realistic enough and the gap-toothed Oktay Özdemir is a great choice for the role of the aggressive Can. I have admittedly not seen many examples of Turkish-German cinema but based on Rage and F a t i h Akin's The Edge of Heaven, there appear to be quality films to be found there.

"Wut" is definitely a masterpiece! And in my opinion it is unworthy for such a good drama to just play it in television. This film is a socio-critical drama, which describes a social focus in our society. Most of the German dramas avail themselves of clichés and play down, this one here is the first movie, which shows the hard reality - even when it is very exaggerated. But this is necessary for the main message of the movie. In addition to that director Züli Aladag has found the two most impressive actors ever for these roles: Oktay Özdemir ("Knallhart"), whose acting as gang leader Can is genius and August Zirner, who gives a great performance as father, who does not know how to deal with his son's problems...

Aladag succeeded in making a critical view on the problematic situation of violence in German schools, compared with wrong integration. This movie could have also international success!

This film is definitely one of my favorite films. Especially because love movies from the years between 2005-2006. The script of the film is very good, the fight between Simon and Can in the film is well written and you can quickly see what the film is about. I would have liked the film to be longer. I also like the places where the film was shot, but what I missed were the scenes in the classroom. Actors like "Simon laub" play their roles well as well as "Can" but "Felix" is not a good choice for the role in my opinion. All in all, it's a very good film, which I give it 10 points for. Nice film!