"Der Wettbewerb" is a German-language television film from 2011 and to be really precise, this premiered on my birthday in 2011 and this means that this film will have it's ninth anniversary soon and one more year until the tenth anniversary. As you see from the first sentence, I did not say it is a German movie. But it still is, just a co-production between Austria and Germany we got here. No surprise really because the director is Austrian, the film was shot in Austria and the two male characters at the center of the story are as well. Or played by Austrian actors I should say. I will get to those later. You can maybe even say that this film is more Austrian than German in fact, but why pick one. It's perfectly fine there are two countries of production. First of all, it must be said that this film was on German national television today in the afternoon, which shows that, despite the age, it is still shown nowadays. Not really a good thing. Then again, there are many, many other small screen releases here from my country that are considerably worse and more cringeworthy than these under 1.5 hours we have here. Still there are some weak moments nonetheless. I will talk about those a little later. Also not too common that Austrian co-productions are shown in the afternoon here on German television, but also not something that never happens. It really happens far more frequently than with France, Switzerland, Denmark etc. if we are talking about other neighbor countries because with those it happens never at all. Another slightly unusual thing is that there are no less than three writers credited here. Very uncommon. Most of the time, it is one. Rarely two. And in addition, the director does not belong to this trio of writers. The man in charge behind the camera is Michael Riebl and he started making films approximately when the old millennium ended and turned into a fairly prolific filmmaker afterwards, but mostly focused on series. There are three or four movies as well included in his body of work, but that is it. This is one of them and the way this turned out I cannot exactly say I am sad that he did not direct more films. However, it can be added that he is also a really prolific cinematographer. There he has even more credits than when it came to directing films. I will not go into detail about the three writers. You can check out their names and bodies of work for yourself if you care. What can be said is that neither has really worked on any highly successful projects in the past. The opposite is the case in fact in terms of the quality of what is included in their bodies of work. But I certainly want to talk a bit about the cast. The two lead actors here, those I mentioned earlier, are Harald Krassnitzer and Cornelius Obonya. The former is pretty famous here in Germany. he was the Bergdoktor once, but not really for that, but rather for being on tatort for a long time. I do not care about this show at all, yet I kinda like Krassnitzer. I think with pretty much every other actor playing the part I would have liked the outcome here less quality-wise. He is the main reason why this is a weak film overall and not a terrible one. Here and there he managed to elevate the material quite considerably. As for Obonya, I am not even sure if I can call him a lead. He has considerably less screen time than Krassnitzer and that is a good thing. The name sounds as if he could be Black and have African roots by the way, but as you see from the profile picture, this is of course not the case. Still, it felt weird when at the end they acted as if these two actors/characters were on the same level as the movie was always more about Krassnitzer's character. from beginning to end really. Kinda fitting that Krassnitzer's character's wife also has a lot more screen time and is played by the more famous actress. Still Kramer is one I do not like at all and who, in my opinion, is not a talented actress at all, has almost zero range and versatility and as she has many scenes with Krassnitzer toggether obviously given the proximity between their characters, it becomes a bit painful to watch at times. I wish they could have cast somebody else there. Anyway, two more supporting players I recognized are Rehberg (rip) playing the protagonists' father and Prinz, who really plays a very minor character only. A bit of a waste. Then again, I kinda feel like not too many will recognize him. But he is an alright actor I think. From these mentions, you can also see that this is a much moore male-centered movie and despite three female writers, the women do not get particularly great material.
Nonetheless, this is a film mostly for female audiences as always with these German afternoon films. This is already shown again by the tendencies of anti-male writing. Frequently, it is much more blatantly obvious than in this movie, but the inclusions are there nonetheless. The best example is basically how the men forget to care for their families and treat their women the way they should and in the end, they have to show up and beg for mercy bringing tons of flowers to their partners. Of course, in the sense of solving this pseudo drama that felt totally unauthentic, the woman give in (after the children) and everybody is happy again and the happy ending is there. Also something you always find in these movies. Oh by the way, Krassnitzer and Kramer are also a couple in real life. Now I remember. I did not really feel it in their chemistry here. As for Krassnitzer, even I as a vegetarian, found one inclusion funny that was a bit of a running gam, namely how his character does not want to give up on his beloved Gänseleber (goose liver). But that was the only comedic inclusion I kinda liked here. The rest was a mix of unfunny and sometimes even cringeworthy. This is the story of two brothers basically who could not be any more different, basically live in different world, especially if we are talking about how they deal with the environment. Still they end up going against each other when Krassnitzer's character's daughter motivates him to take part in a competition that is about turning your home into a place as eco-friendly as it gets. And of course, the other brother also takes part there and from that moment on, it is a race between the two because they are really competitive. Further fuel is added by the men's father for whom his sons are never really good enough. But the father-son story is also one that got rushed in for the sake of it. At least that is what it felt like to me. Almost no depth at all. Finally, I would like to say that I liked the background idea of this film here because of course it can also make people from the audience think about how environment-friendly they are living their lives. Still the big change in mind near the end that all of a sudden the brothers did not care anymore for their conflict and the race, but realized how they must be grateful for their partners and families and also how the only thing this is really all about is helping the planet did again feel a bit pseudo important. I mean it is obviously the right idea and approach, but how they lead us there with the screeplay felt rather shoddy and not really believable and that is already a nice way to put it. Disappointing. I think this is even worse because if they are really going for this subject, then a half-baked approach is exactly what this important issue does not need. Okay, that is all then. Like I said, if it wasn't for Krass sometimes putting something on my lips that remotely resembled a smile, then these almost 90 minutes would have gotten a weaker rating from me for sure. It is definitely way closer to failure territory than to being a good movie. Thumbs-down. My suggestion is you skip the watch here.
Nonetheless, this is a film mostly for female audiences as always with these German afternoon films. This is already shown again by the tendencies of anti-male writing. Frequently, it is much more blatantly obvious than in this movie, but the inclusions are there nonetheless. The best example is basically how the men forget to care for their families and treat their women the way they should and in the end, they have to show up and beg for mercy bringing tons of flowers to their partners. Of course, in the sense of solving this pseudo drama that felt totally unauthentic, the woman give in (after the children) and everybody is happy again and the happy ending is there. Also something you always find in these movies. Oh by the way, Krassnitzer and Kramer are also a couple in real life. Now I remember. I did not really feel it in their chemistry here. As for Krassnitzer, even I as a vegetarian, found one inclusion funny that was a bit of a running gam, namely how his character does not want to give up on his beloved Gänseleber (goose liver). But that was the only comedic inclusion I kinda liked here. The rest was a mix of unfunny and sometimes even cringeworthy. This is the story of two brothers basically who could not be any more different, basically live in different world, especially if we are talking about how they deal with the environment. Still they end up going against each other when Krassnitzer's character's daughter motivates him to take part in a competition that is about turning your home into a place as eco-friendly as it gets. And of course, the other brother also takes part there and from that moment on, it is a race between the two because they are really competitive. Further fuel is added by the men's father for whom his sons are never really good enough. But the father-son story is also one that got rushed in for the sake of it. At least that is what it felt like to me. Almost no depth at all. Finally, I would like to say that I liked the background idea of this film here because of course it can also make people from the audience think about how environment-friendly they are living their lives. Still the big change in mind near the end that all of a sudden the brothers did not care anymore for their conflict and the race, but realized how they must be grateful for their partners and families and also how the only thing this is really all about is helping the planet did again feel a bit pseudo important. I mean it is obviously the right idea and approach, but how they lead us there with the screeplay felt rather shoddy and not really believable and that is already a nice way to put it. Disappointing. I think this is even worse because if they are really going for this subject, then a half-baked approach is exactly what this important issue does not need. Okay, that is all then. Like I said, if it wasn't for Krass sometimes putting something on my lips that remotely resembled a smile, then these almost 90 minutes would have gotten a weaker rating from me for sure. It is definitely way closer to failure territory than to being a good movie. Thumbs-down. My suggestion is you skip the watch here.