"Grüne Wüste" or "Green Desert" is a German 90-minute film from 1999, so this one will soon have its 20th anniversary. The director is successful filmmaker Anno Saul and the script here comes from Swenja Karsten. The cast includes a couple big names. Gedeck, Ferch and Noethen have been part of the German acting elite for quite a long time and even if they play supporting characters only, they still stay memorable. But the heart and soul are the two young protagonists. The male lead is played by Robert Gwisdek at a really young age and yes people know his father Michael for sure, but here he shows that his dad's footsteps certainly aren't too big for him. The female lead is Tatjana Trieb, a young actress who only has two credits in her body of work, but both are from pretty good films and this is their later performance. Obviously, she dedicated herself to work outside the entertainment industry. Quite a shame as she was a great talent.
Anyway, this film here is the story of two teenage kids and one of them gets very sick at some point (cancer). The rest of the film is basically how everybody deals with this sickness, not just the boy himself, but also the girl, his parents and her parents, who have a pretty special connection themselves really. And all this stuff about the parents was honestly also the film's weakest part I guess. Why include this cheating plot? They surely could have done better than this. Anyway, it's just a minor letdown and I'd have preferred without these. It really felt like filler material, so that the film will not just run for 70 minutes. The scenes between Gwisdek and Trieb were enjoyable for the most part. Yes their argument feels a bit generic when he pushes her away towards the end and these scenes added nothing too creative or individual, but they were still fine to watch, also the scene when Ferch's character finds out about the death for example. I personally think that this was a decent watch, but I also feel that in terms of the film's emotional impact, there was a lot more possibly what this film could have done how it could have really touched audiences deep down to the core and the heart. But it doesn't. Or almost doesn't. It still tells a decent story and because of that I recommend seeing it. Thumbs up.
Anyway, this film here is the story of two teenage kids and one of them gets very sick at some point (cancer). The rest of the film is basically how everybody deals with this sickness, not just the boy himself, but also the girl, his parents and her parents, who have a pretty special connection themselves really. And all this stuff about the parents was honestly also the film's weakest part I guess. Why include this cheating plot? They surely could have done better than this. Anyway, it's just a minor letdown and I'd have preferred without these. It really felt like filler material, so that the film will not just run for 70 minutes. The scenes between Gwisdek and Trieb were enjoyable for the most part. Yes their argument feels a bit generic when he pushes her away towards the end and these scenes added nothing too creative or individual, but they were still fine to watch, also the scene when Ferch's character finds out about the death for example. I personally think that this was a decent watch, but I also feel that in terms of the film's emotional impact, there was a lot more possibly what this film could have done how it could have really touched audiences deep down to the core and the heart. But it doesn't. Or almost doesn't. It still tells a decent story and because of that I recommend seeing it. Thumbs up.
