The Edukators

Review by Jason Blake

By day, Jan (Daniel Brühl) and Peter (Stipe Erceg) are anti-globalisation activists protesting on the city streets.

By night, they are The Edukators.

Their mission: to boldly mess with the heads of Germany’s uber-rich by breaking into their suburban villas, rearranging the furniture and leaving vaguely threatening notes such as “YOUR DAYS OF PLENTY ARE NUMBERED”.

It’s a strictly non-violent, politically motivated operation and nothing is ever stolen. Well, almost nothing.

But one of their operations turns into a potential disaster when Peter’s girlfriend Jule (Julia Jentsch) gets involved.

Rumbled during an action against the millionaire businessman, Hardenberg, Jules owes money to, the trio resort to kidnap, bundling their terrified victim (played by Burghard Klaussner) into a van and driving him to a remote Alpine cabin owned by Jules’s uncle.

With Peter and Jan battling over Jules’s affections and Hardenberg manipulating the emotional situation, it seems that the stage is being set for some kind of unpleasantness, but The Edukators doesn’t pan out that way. Instead, the youngsters learn a thing or two about life from their manipulative prisoner – himself a former radical – as the film edges its way to toward an unexpectedly upbeat ending.

Shot on digital video, The Edukators has an appropriately rough and ready feel but writer/director Hans Weingartner maintains a tight rein on the action and draws out some fine performances, especially from Brühl (last seen here in Goodbye, Lenin!).

That said, it’s a little long-winded at 127 minutes and Weingartner’s reliance on repeat plays of Jeff Buckley’s 'Hallelujah' to underscore the emotional climax of the film strikes a false note in a film that’s generally handled with a very light touch.

3.5 out of 5

The Edukators
Australian release: Thursday 12th of May, 2005
Cast: Daniel Brühl, Stipe Erceg, Julia Jentsch.
Director: Hans Weingartner.
Website: Click here.

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