The Edukators - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution movie review

'The Edukators' means well, but gets mixed up

By ELEANOR RINGEL GILLESPIE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

From Germany comes "The Edukators," a movie that wonders, among other things, where have all the flower people gone?

No need to spend a long time asking. They've gone to million-dollar mansions, Mercedes and second homes by the sea. They've gone Establishment and, as far as the restless idealistic trio in Hans Weingartner's movie are concerned, they've gone to hell.

IFC Films

'The Edukators'

The verdict: Using "Trading Spaces" tactics as a social manifesto is a prankish idea, (the "edukating") but the movie goes off in too many directions.

Director: Hans Weingartner
Starring: Daniel Bruhl, Julia Jentsch, Stipe Erceg, Burghart Klaussner, Peer Martiny
Run time: 124 minutes
Release date: July 22, 2005
Rating: R for language, a scene of sexuality, and some drug use.
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Jan (Daniel Bruhl) and Peter (Stipe Erceg) are a two-man revolution who break into the homes of the well-off while they're gone and do some rearranging. Furniture is piled in the middle of a room. A prized collection of toy soldiers floats in the toilet. The stereo is in the fridge. Nothing's ever broken or taken, but they always leave a Merry Prankster-ish warning: "Your days of plenty are numbered."

Not really what you want to come home to after a week on the family yacht.

Things go wrong when Jan, at the behest of Peter's irresponsible girlfriend, Jule (Julia Jentsch), breaks into the house of a wealthy industrialist whose car she damaged and whose battery of lawyers are sticking her with the bill. Since she's a waitress, she could be dead before the payments are done.

Vengeance proves to be a bad fit with revolutionary idealism, and when the owner comes home early they're forced to take him hostage. Along with Peter, they hole up at a secluded country cottage where the group dynamics shift by the hour.

The more we listen to the young folks, the more tiresome they sound, and Jule — who's supposed to be a free spirit a la Jeanne Moreau in "Jules and Jim" — is more than tiresome. She's just plain annoying. This may be intentional, but Weingartner never lets us know, and it's frustrating.

Though "The Edukators" touches on some interesting notions — especially when their hostage reveals his own radical '60s past — the movie can't always handle its own contradictions. Like its protagonists, it means well, but gets mixed up. Too easily.