Budding revolutionaries may feel inspired to don their freshly minted Che T-shirts and check out “The Edukators,” given that its main characters are young people who search their souls by day (“I can’t find anything I really want to believe in,” moans one) and make mischief by night.
But even the sort of earnest activists who joined Amnesty International after the last U2 tour will be disappointed by Hans Weingartner’s talky, rambling movie, which is light on action and heavy on didactic dialogue. In trying to appeal to a generation searching for idealism (as well as perhaps boomers who have long ago lost theirs), “The Edukators” offers only applesauce ideas that more or less confirm the cynical mantra of the movie’s corporate fat cat: “Under 30 and not liberal, no heart. Over 30 and still liberal, no brain.”
Would that Weingartner had a little more brain, not to mention a decent editor. The 129-minute “Edukators” tips its hat to Francois Truffaut with its chummy romantic triangle of best friends Peter (Stipe Erceg) and Jan (Daniel
Bruhl, “Goodbye, Lenin!”) and debt-ridden waitress Jules (Julia Jentsch). (Jules and Jan … Jules and Jim, get it?) Peter and Jan break into rich people’s homes, rearrange the furniture and leave cryptic notes like, “Your days of plenty are numbered. The Edukators.”
This “new approach” to confronting corporate wealth is meant to put the fear of the proletariat into heads of the unfeeling moneyed class, including people like Hardenberg (Burghart Klaussner), who is forcing Jules to pay for the S-class Mercedes that she totaled. The boys have big plans for waking up Hardenberg and his ilk. Realizing these goals depends on whether ideology can triumph over hormones, which, given the ages of the characters, is an iffy proposition at best.
“The Edukators” is not completely without incident or interest, the latter being generated primarily by its trio of young, gifted actors. The ending brings a smile, both from its twist of truth and, unfortunately, because it comes after a half-hour of blather that could have easily been cut to 10 minutes. Like the rest of the movie, the finale strikes a misanthropic note. As one character puts it: “Been there, done that. Why bother?” Indeed.
** | “The Edukators”
R for language, sexuality, drug use|CRIME DRAMA|2 hours, 9 minutes|Directed by Hans Weingartner; written by Katharina Held and Weingartner; in German with subtitles; photography by Daniella Knapp and Matthias Schellenberg; starring Daniel Bruhl, Stipe Erceg, Julia Jentsch|Opens today at the Chez Artiste.
