note: This is an English translation of a previously published review in Serbo-croatian. The original version can be found on FAK.hr
2015.
Written
and directed by: Isabelle Stever
Cast:
Maria Furtwängler, Mehmet Sözer, Anne von Keller, Christoph Rath,
Dorka Gryllus, Jim Broadbent, Barbara Bouchet
An
unnamed Middle Eastern country exists in relative peace, but its
first neighbour is in middle of a bloody war. The borders are closed.
The ceasefire agreement is about to be signed, which means the
opening of the borders and the coming of the refugees.
The
city's hotel is packed with foreigners, professionals of war:
journalists, reporters, humanitarian workers, delegates of
international institutions and non-government organizations. They all
wait for the refugees to flock to the refugee camps to take photos of
them or with them, give them the packages of help etc.
Being
a refugee is a dreadful condition. Just think of it: you work, try to
live an honest and decent life, but then suddenly a war comes and
although you have nothing to do with it (or are just a pawn in
politicians' games) - you lose everything, fearing for your and your
family's life. Your only option is to run, to hide, to live in
inhumane conditions until you reach some kind of safety and start
from scratch, if this is at all possible.
Those
refugees are welcomed and helped by people with varying and
underlying interests. Some of them honestly believe in postulates of
humanity on which the society is built and which are, at least
nominally, preached by every existing religion. Others are selfish
and do it to feel better and/or morally superior, to gain some good
karma or at least to prove to themselves and others that they are
good people. Then there are those who do it professionally- without
doubt we could call this a cultural achievement - but they are also
only human beings with their flaws and vices.
What
happens when all those worlds collide? Well, this is the focal point
of German authoress' Isabelle Stever's newest movie, “Das Wetter in
geschlossenen Räumen” (“The Weather Inside”).
Its
English title is certainly more poetic, but the German one is
revealing the true paradox of the situation. The movie's protagonist,
Dorothea (Maria Furtwängler) is a seasoned PR manager of a
humanitarian organization, always near the war and human suffering –
but at a safe distance. Despite the raging explosions outside, she
feels completely safe in her luxury hotel room while she's working on
a project of scholarship funding for the female refugees in Europe.
Despite its noble intentions, the project itself is elitistic and
completely removed from the refugees' dire reality – a kind of
utopia that could be conceived by someone who lives in luxury hotels,
attends business meetings and fundraising dinners and enjoys all the
benefits of egotistical and self-serving civilization.
Dorothea
will happily live her illusion until the moment she meets 24-year old
Alec (Mehmet Sözer), one of the few in the area that speak German.
They will meet in alcohol-drenched atmosphere of a gala fundraising
evening and start an affair, full of expensive liquor, drugs and
rock-star attitude. But young Alec is neither stupid nor naïve. He
knows Dorothea is his “golden goose” and a ticket to a better
life, somewhere far away from the harsh reality of war.
Dorothea,
on other hand, doesn't realize her life is slipping from her hands;
both her career and life are at jeopardy, with her younger boss (Anna
von Keller) being equally unimpressed by her former career
achievements and her reckless destruction of the fancy hotel room -
all the while Dorothea's scholarship project is bursting at the
seams.
There
is something deeply cynical and disturbing, terrifying almost, when
it comes to professional humanitarianism - and we can see that on
Dorothea. Maybe her comment: “My hairdo is part of my job”
doesn't seem monstrous enough and flies under the radar, but we'll
definitely get an insight into the depravity that hides under the
facade of a beautiful and educated middle-aged woman with (fake)
integrity. We'll come to understand that there's a reason she's sad
and lonely, that her life doesn't have any deeper meaning and that
her goal is not the world peace or at least a stable society and
education for women. Her goal isn't even money (though she
mercilessly spends it) or fame. No, she's a vampire that feeds on
reputation and gratitude of both the mighty and the oppressed, and in
doing so she's a part of a cynical, vampiric machine that is the
humanitarian industry in itself, its main purpose being the mighty
high-fiving each other while being admired by the oppressed.
Dorothea
is not the worst example of this, just a representative. Her boss is
maybe giving off more humanity just by being younger and more
inexperienced, believing in the system and sticking by the procedure.
Dorothea has been here too long to believe that she would change the
world, but this career is everything she has and all that she could
draw her reputation from, so her losing control isn't so much a
result of her subconscious effort to rebel as it is a simple
collision with reality.
Despite
all this, Dorothea is not a one-dimensional character and her story
is not being told with an arbitrarily founded judgement from a safe
distance by the director or the screenwriter. The character herself
is very complex and proves to be a major task for the actress, best
known for the role in one of the longest-running cop shows in
Germany. Maria Furtwängler has accepted the role of Dorothea after a
long negotiation and has played it perfectly. Her screen appearance
matches the type of her character: elegant, blond, beautiful and
cold, with an aristocratic stance. She enters her character fully and
wholly and it's a pleasure to watch her.
Alec
is also not a simple or typical character. He may be a victim of
specific life circumstances, but he doesn't want to stay passive and
uses whatever means necessary to get out of his situation. It may not
be moral thing to do, but the people he gets involved with are the
same or even worse. So Alec has no qualms about playing domination
games with Dorothea, and actor Mehmet Sözer matches his colleague
Furtwängler perfectly.
Other
characters are simpler, but mostly because they don't get a lot of
screen time - which is still enough for director Isabelle Stever to
deliver shrewd and venomous observations through them. For instance,
Jim Broadbent plays an indifferent English ambassador willing to make
any deal as long as the price is right, and Barbara Bouchet plays a
fictionalized and almost cartoonish version of herself, lost in an
unfamiliar world.
Isabelle
Stever sets (at least) two themes in this movie and gets to the heart
of them. “The Weather Inside” is a portrayal of a destructive
relationship and falling out of a personality, but it is also a harch
criticism of the bureaucratic relationship the humanitarian business
has evolved toward something that should be, and remain, humane
compassion. The director doesn't mask her punches, exercising them
with utmost control and changing the mood from upsetting, then
nuancing it through black humour to openly toxic, all the while
staying dead set on target.
As
a screenwriter she composed her material from the stories she heard
from the humanitarians themselves, and she's not sparing any party in
this story. As for her directing, she's reckoning on “Berliner
school”; building the atmosphere from humoristic to chaotic and
back again through absurdity, playing with the lights and shadows and
brilliantly guiding her actors through depths of exploration. Late
Harun Farocki's signature script is present in the characters and
their relationships, which is no wonder since he is signed as a
script consultant for the movie.
“The
Weather Inside” is a strong and self-assured movie; one of those
that aren't hard to interpret at one's own will. One thing is sure -
Isabelle Stever is not giving us a feeling of false security with her
portrayal of a society where everyone's either pretending or
pretending to be doing something. With this movie she won't be
getting attention from wider audiences usually uninterested in
serious topics and experiences, but this is potentially thrilling
experience for a mindful and observant viewer, interested in the
different kinds of people we're sharing the world with.
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