Breathing

Karl Markovics's "Atmen" ("Breathing" in English) focuses on a youth's emotional awakening and the issue of morality in our lives. The movie both gives the viewer a glimpse into the youth's life as he gets a job as a mortuary attendant while still in a juvenile detention center, but also how he has to confront the crime that put him juvie. There are also several shots of the environs of Vienna. I thought that the most effective scenes were the train, showing him going to and from the juvenile detention center, and how the advertisement comes into view, or vanishes.

I'd say that this was the right movie for Austria to submit for its nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. Addressing matters of incarceration, ethics, and relationships, it hits the right notes.

This is a movie about guilt, dreams, redemption and ultimately hope. You won't like 18 year old Roman Kogler at first. He is sullen, uncommunicative, and in prison. Nobody else seems to like him either. He doesn't like himself. Beset by inner demons, he has committed some unspeakable crime. His only ally is the probation officer who is helping him to find a job that will convince a parole board that Roman is worthy to be released back into the community. Through the course of the movie we learn that he is a boy who has been dealt a bad hand in life. Brought up in care, he has been a lost soul who made a tragic mistake that caused him to spend his teenage years in detention. A job in the city morgue proves to be the turning point in the movie, and in his life. This job is the symbol of his eventual redemption. As his prison peers turn away from him in disgust at his choice of job, his equally wary co-workers, initially sceptical at having a convicted criminal in their midst, soon become accepting of the boy, and eventually encourage him to develop in his new role. A stroke of fate during a call-out one day, leads Roman down a path of self-discovery, which will help him to understand why he became the person he now is, and allows the audience to explore the damaged relationship, which needs to be repaired before the boy can address his inner demons and move on with his life. This is stark, often graphic, but never dull. You will end up liking Roman. As he understands what has brought him to this point in his life, he begins to like himself more. He exhibits an inner strength and confidence that belies his young years. You can be sure he will make a success of himself, in spite of the bad start that life offered him.

Thomas Schubert is Roman Kogler, a kid who's serving time in a juvenile detention center. He has a day job as a morgue attendant. He is socially awkward and can't connect with anybody. Can he find the connection that he so desperately need?

This movie moves rather slowly. It meanders along as we follow Roman around. There isn't anything dramatic going on until the final third of the movie. So we're relying on this being a character study. A character study has major problems here. The actor is not charismatic and the character is supposed to be withdrawn. Again that doesn't make for compelling watching. A final reveal is very enlightening about his incarceration. However, I think a violent action scene at the beginning would inject much needed tension into this character. It would serve the movie much better to see the incident at the beginning rather than hear about it at the end.

This is yet another brilliant Austrian film. It is the directing debut of the well-known Austrian actor Karl Markovics and it is a stunning first film. Perhaps the main reason for this is the acting of Thomas Schubert in the main role. Seldom has a young guy so quietly taken over the big screen and he lives and breathes his character so thoroughly that it's almost hard to believe you are watching a movie and not a documentary. All the supporting actors are likewise presented in a very realistic mode. It is filmed under overcast skies (yes, Vienna has many days of sunshine but not in this film.) When the film quietly ends in a pan-out of another overcast sky, you realize how touched you are by Roman (Thomas Schubert) the main character who's trying to find a path he can travel on through life. Thumbs up!!

Atmen is set in Austria and features a young man who has spent four years in juvenile detention and is breaking into the real world of work. The story is sad but also offers hope. The ending is a big surprise. Why did the young man end up where he was? You won't know unless you watch the whole film, which is beautifully shot and well acted.