User Reviews

With „Die innere Sicherheit" Christian Petzold, German director, brings us an interesting piece of cinema. It's the study of the 15-year-old girl Jeanne (Julia Hummer), whose parents are both living underground, and what this means for her life, mainly in terms of first love or personality development. Petzold is able to create a kind of tense atmosphere. The viewer feels sorry for Jeanne, but at the same time you can understand why she is so loyal to her parents. They are simply the only persons that really know her. Through their constant moving she has no one else, so she has to protect the only relationship she has. For a period of time, she thinks she has found another person to trust in Heinrich, but he can't handle this difficult situation. Julia Hummer delivers an outstanding performance, while there are some flaws throughout the movie in the storyline of the parents (played by Richi Müller and Barbara Auer).

"The State I Am In" stands on its own as a superior character study, but for me the cast was superior to the script. Julia Hummer, Barbara Auer, and Richie Muller are the perfect actors for a politically radical "family" permanently on the lam. However, the Clara and Hans roles might benefit from a little more background and Jeanne, especially Jeanne, Clara's daughter and the film's protagonist, seems too conventional for someone in her position. Revising Jeanne by just one character substitute would makes the film more convincing, original, adult, and subversive.

It's hard for me to believe that a 15 year old teen who has lived her entire life in the underground with two revolutionary adults should be cast in so discordant a frame. Why is a typical romance at the center of her break out world? Why at 15 is she jealous of her mother's love-making; why is this the passion she must realize rather than say a passion for justice? Why does she have more diffidence in the young man's presence than in that of her "parents?" Given that the German Internal Security Forces are moving in on these dear three, how is this the moment for her confrontation with Clara and Hans? And why does she seem a bit too middle class, spoiled, and ultimately too destructive to be the daughter of a radical couple?

In contrast, the Clara and Hans roles are more convincing. They seem to be what their lives have dictated. They are disciplined, adult, competent, intelligent, and rarely and only momentarily under the sway of their emotions. They work together and hard to build a life despite their isolation; they accept that theirs is not the loving relationship that might belong to them in a different world; and most critically, it is their sense of leadership and equality that holds them together. As does their mutual love for Clara's daughter, from whom they expect a lot in the way of learning, mature discernment, and discipline.

But Jeanne more often than not, does not seem to be a reflection of Clara and Hans, nor of their hard earned independence and values. She only partly flourishes under her "parents" mutual respect and love for her. She time and time again risks her "family's" safety for the sake of a little romance/sex. Why doesn't she feel more deprived by her lack of social world, recognition, or opportunities for practicing the social justice Clara and Hans gave up their freedom for?

Of course, the Jeanne of the film is possible, but it seems to me this film would have been much more challenging if she were cast as a social actor of some kind. This is a political, not a psychological threesome. Her blossoming independence needs to find realization in something to at least match the seriousness of her life and parents, say a trustworthy friend, or some other connection that drives her outside her troubled mind. If her parents opposed corporate domination she perhaps could be shown opposing male domination

REVISION: Substitute for the dime store romance a close friendship with a truly independent young woman her age. (perhaps the interesting teenager who directly approaches her to attend the school film) The break out would center around this budding friendship. Say this young woman has a friend who is being sexually harassed by her teacher or coach, and she decides to organize a protest on her behalf. Jeanne decides to attend it, is arrested, spends a little time with her friend in the clinker and while out on bail, Internal Security closes in on her, Clara and Hans. In an ensuing chase, they make it across the border, Jeanne from the backseat puts one arm around Hans, one around Clara, their heads squeezed together in a bobbing embrace as their white Opel put-puts down the road. Curtains.

An end with no betrayal, no requisite deaths of the revolutionaries. All the irresolutional conflicts which beset the three would at least for the time find respite. Jeanne would answer her search for all that already existed within her in both her friend's world and in Clara and Hans. And a sense of promise would enter the lives of those who have been sentenced to none.

"Die innere Sicherheit" or "The State I Am In" is a German movie from 2000, so this one is already over 15 years old. The writer and director here is Christian Petzold and he made this one together with his longtime collaborator Harun Farocki (rip). For Petzold, it was the first big screen release of his career after he mostly worked on television before that. He was roughly 40 back then and it is from the days when he did not yet work together with Nina Hoss on a regular basis. At 100 minutes, it is relatively long for a Petzold movie and it was a big success in terms of awards recognition. It was not chosen as Germany's Oscar submission, but it won Best Film at the German Film Awards back then and this was of course a big success for a relatively new filmmaker like Petzold. Since then, he certainly developed into one of Germany's finest and I like many of his works. But I would not say that this one here is among his best. I think Petzold usually really delivers in the realism department and he is never about happy feel-good endings that lack said realism and this is also true here. In terms of the action, it feels credible for the most part. But I had occasionally problems with the dialogues as they sometimes did not feel age-appropriate for the younger characters, including the main character played by Julia Hummer, who was a much bigger star a decade ago then she is now. But still you could argue that her character never grew up with people her age, so she may have adapted to her parents' style. Anyway, the actors overall do a good job I would say and Hummer certainly makes it work for the most part with a pretty good performance, especially for somebody her age. This is the story of a girl who has to grow up in secrecy as her parents are former terrorists living in hiding because they are still searched by the police. As a consequence, she has to move places all the time which keeps her from establishing connections and relationships. Things get a lot more complicated when she experiences love for the first time obviously. One of the film's biggest strengths is the bleakness and atmospheric touch and Petzold is always a master of this particular area. It is one of the main reasons to watch this movie.While I would not say it is among the very best from Germany between 1999 and 2001, it's still certainly worth seeing. Thumbs up.