FILMS/
RAGE
Wut
New Directors
Germany, 2006, 90 minutes
SHOWTIMES
Tue, May 1 / 08:45 / Kabuki / RAGE01K
CREDITS
- dir
-
Züli Aladag
- prod
-
Christian Granderath
- scr
-
Max Eipp
- cam
-
Wojciech Szepel
- editor
-
Andreas Wodratschme
- mus
-
Johannes Kobilke
- cast
-
Oktay Özdemir, August Zirner, Corinna Harfouch, Robert Höller, Ralph Herforth
- source
-
Bavaria Media Television, Gisela Wiltschek, Bavariafilmplatz 8, 82031 Geiselgasteig, Germany FAX: +49-89-6499-3720 EMAIL: gisela.wiltschek@bavaria-film.de
The quiet comfort of middle-class life is rocked to its core in this stylish and controversial German thriller. Simon is a well-respected professor, an intellectual who favors thought over action. Can is an angry Turkish teenager who sells dope and torments Simon’s son, Felix. When the pacifist professor confronts the vicious street thug, the film explodes into a shocking and unsettling culture clash that exposes the raw underbelly of racial and class tensions in this Berlin suburb. As the picture-perfect family unravels into a gruesome mess of white-collar dysfunction, the bitter lies and unsettling hypocrisy that fuel their existence are quickly uncovered. Meanwhile, Can also struggles with family issues, working to please his immigrant parents who can’t understand their out-of-control offspring. Soon each character’s rage escalates, and the story spirals into a dark place where violence becomes the only answer for these desperate men. Turkish-born filmmaker Züli Aladag shoots with an in-your-face style that is exhilarating and intense. Handheld cameras and pulsating music create a frenzied, realistic energy that capture the unsettled emotional states of these characters. In addition, the astonishing lead actors bring a twisted vitality to men on the verge of nervous breakdowns. Combining the excitement of a thriller with the insight of a documentary, Rage will have you glued to the screen as you ponder provocative, contemporary questions about race, class and what it means to be a man.
Capelito
A delightful claymation adventure about a mushroom-shaped couple being tormented by a fly. (Rodolfo Pastor, Spain 2006, 3 min.)
—Brendan Peterson
West Coast Premiere. These films are Golden Gate Award winners for television narrative. Presented in association with Goethe-Institut San Francisco.