To the movie “Combat girls”, director and screenplay by David Wnendt
ALARM FOR THE ACTUAL MOMENT THROUGH DYNAMIC AND HARSH RHYTHM
“Combat girls” is a film about the rebelliousness, about the prejudices, about the seeking of own identity, about the family, but also about the fragility of the foundations of an society which bears burden of the past and which is trying, on the road to the future, to cope with the nowadays. That is an reality, which looking from one side maybe doesn’t look so palpably and so truthfully, but in fact talk for one constantly present potential evil, with which young people often flirt when they have problems or just look at that as refuge, while the elder (stuck in past) often take an advantage of that.
So German film “Combat girls” by David Wnendt, who was included in the main program of 13-th International film festival in Bratislava, is very important film that appeals on very strong way talking about reality, that maybe many understand it as a fiction and therefore ignore it. But that is reality in Germany, and probably in all countries, of course, embedded in their past and tradition, and points out that nothing isn’t as naive as we want to believe that it is, and that problems of young, if not solved as it need, than they could have far-reaching implications.
As a film, David Wnendt make this achievement with modernistic approach, with bitter language and cruel behavior, with rebelliousness, with readiness to go to the end and such a impudence in the wish for derogation and revenge, that at the moments works as they were taken out from video-games. But, it doesn’t make it less worthy, on the contrary. That is reality of the young people that often can come out from the screens and spill over in reality (there are few examples and tragedies in the world). Film language is excellent, with good rhythm; good building of the construction, with effective photograph and dynamic montage, whose effect was excellently supported with furious musical rhythm. Character of young Marisa, was excellently performed by Alina Levshin (whose origin is Ukrainian). The film has some weakness in the building of the second female character, that of more younger girl Svenja (Jela Hase), who also is trying to find her identity in escape, as well as in some particular situation when Marisa gravitate between two worlds, fighting with her subconscious.
But as a whole “Combat girls” is a good film, well completed, with strong message and provocative idea, which unfortunately some quite unjustly consider as a film for younger generation. It really talks about young generation, but is much more oriented toward the olders. As the world of young people is a mirror of the world of the elders, that can very sharply, uncompromised, even painful to confront us with something we do not like to see, or we look on that with ironic smile, determining it as naive. But exactly here lays the strength of this movie, which somehow whatever we like or not, succeed to put us on test. Do we really know to listen? Or hiding behind the great criterions and values, behind the “seriousness”, which unchallenged we are seeking in film creativity, this kind of works are excellent reflexion of the world of the young people, of the world around us and on many unanswered questions, but yet we ignore it.
“Combat girls” is a film for actual moment, global one, is a film that talks for one new generation of film workers that on a more different way talks about their problems. This film is graduate work of David Wnenth, which points out his potential, but also to more important questions in front of whom we must not close our eyes.
Suncica Unevska
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