Higher learning . . .
April 20th 1999, Columbine, USA: Eric Harris (18) and Dylan Klebold (17) enter their highschool armed, opening fire, killing one teacher, 12 fellow-students, injuring 24 others before shooting themselves.
April 26th 2002, Erfurt, Germany: after being banned from his school just prior the graduation-week, Robert Steinhäuser (19) enters his school, the Gutenberg-High´ with a pumpgun, and a glock17, kills, 12 teachers, two fellow-students, one secretary and a cop before shooting himself.
November 7th 2007, Jokela, Suomi: 18-year-old student Pekka-Eric Auvinen enters his school, opns fire, kills 5 fellow-students, one nurse, principal Helena Kalmi and a college-student before killing himself...
„Ihr könnt Euch niemals sicher sein.“ – „None of you cen ever be sure.“
17-year-old Oliver (Ludwig Trepte) has to haul with his parents to the german city of Cologne. At his new highschool, the quiet, introverted and serious student quickly becomes a maverick.
In German-lesson he writes a review of the Goethe-classic „Die Leiden des jungen Werthers / The Sorrows of Young Werther“ in a rap-lyric-pattern. His teacher Selma Vollrath (Anneke Kim Sarnau) disagrees with his way of interpretation, she finds it rude, improper, not attractive and not pc, so she disses him in front of the class and gives him 0 points.
If you recall John Cusack´s teacher in „The Sure Thing“ („Der Volltreffer“): this one is the opposite.
Oliver reacts upset but not yet overly aggressive. Briefly later, Vollrath finds a note with a raplyric-excerpt from Oliver where he talks dirty about her and mentions violent thoughts (serious: who of us never had one against a teacher and vice versa?). In hysteria she strikes alert.
In the next briefing, the faculty argues about Oliver and wether or not he should get banned from school. An other German-teacher cites excerpts from Oliver´s „Werther“- review and acknowledges it as lyricaly interesting, highly expressive and definitely a new form of doing a review. Furthermore he realizes that Oliver obviously can set himself into the emotional situation of the maincharacter, inserting similarities from his own lifesituation. The progressive teacher argues with Selma Vollrath: „Well, I find it amazing! We have a student with obviously a fine sense for language, versing and it´s rhythmic possibilities and expressive options. And YOU as his teacher fail to see that! I´ll take him.“
But it apperars to be too late. The police searchers Oliver´s room and confiscates his PC, to find a banned violent game on the harddrive, and in his closet an old gun from Oliver´s deceased WWII-vet-grandpa. Oliver´s father –despite his uncertainties- remains calm first, trying to keep further pressure away from his son, but can´t succeed about it against his sensible wife, the teachers and the cops.
Oppressed by the faculty and the cops, his scared parents get him into a mental-institution instead of seeking convenient discussion with him and listen to what´s in his heart & mind. After a couple of days his therapist correctly analizes that Olivers mental situation is that of a stressed and uncertain teenager but in a normal scale for that age and lifesituation and releases him.
Oliver then has already bonded friendships to a young, mentaly unstable woman from his unit, as well as outside to a russian-german immigrant and his posse. Those two persons will play significant parts during the climax and thereby critically reflect and outweigh the narrow-minded clichés and conservative prejudices, that the broad german public tends to associate with to those two „arctypes“ – another great accomplishment of this terrific movie.
In his newly won peer-group, Oliver can score with his rap-talent (the scene reminds a little of the „stage-battle“ in „8 Mile“) and -for the first time- earns respect, regardless his not-russian origin.
When I was in 6th grade at the „Orientierungsstufe I“ in Hann. Münden (a schoolformat that was folded approx. two years ago), I took English-lessons in the A-class (in the Orientierungsstufe, students were sorted into A-, B-, and C-classes, depending on their skills), taught by regularly Make-Up-overdosed Mrs. W. for about half a year. This particular teacher finaly mobbed me so far to leave the A-class -despite generally good figures and skills- and on own demand joined the B-class of Mrs. S. I mean, what do you say about a teacher who regularly verbally bullies you with comments like „Enzo*, if I ever get a heartattack, you´ll surely be one of the reasons!“?
Or Werner F., my classteacher in the „FOS-Desgin“ in Göttingen/Godehardtstrasse, who oppressed me that regularly, that I one day vented my frustration into a quick drawing, showing me chopping his head off with a mediavel axe, rich detailed with a 3 feet bloodfountain and identifiable faces. Unfortunately I lost it, I guess...
Did I ever consider to really do it? No. The feather is mightier than the sword and now here it is for everyone to read, you two dorks.
In the following years I also played DOOM and other brutal games and still today I listen to Heavy Metal (among others) and watch zombieflicks – and?
I´m a socialworker today, age 36, set in my tracks and consider myself a mainly convenient person.
Only that „Volksmusik“ and „Schlager“-crap on german TV makes me wanna go havoc...
I wonder what would go on in my hometown Hann. Münden, when a broad public would come aware of the fact, that the local highschool („Grotefend-Gymnasium“) has already been virtualy rebuild by a student in 1994 with a DOOM-editor. That fellow measured the whole school with a scalingtape systematically for that purpose, and of course placed the Cyberdemon in the principals-office. Unfortunately I never got a copy.
Briefly after the „Erfurt-school-shooting“, also from a north-Hessian highschool a MOD (made with „Counterstrike“-editor) caused the expectable public reaction and an emotional discussion about the „youth of today“, more restrictive education and the effect of rockmusic and egoshooters as reasons for cultural decline on young people couple of years ago *yawn*.
Surprisingly nobody in such a discussion ever did or does acknowledge, that such a programming demands exact planning, rich creativity and technical skills, a huge kognitive pending and a sharp perception for the architectional environment, which also gets trained in the process.
Additionaly I find it highly understandabel that some teenagers even only virtually just once want to feel power and controll in an environment, where a broad mass of especially the weaker and more introverted and thereby lonelier ones see themselves as alienated outsiders or defenseless objects of some teachers goodwill or fellow-student´s bullying. Better virtually than real.
As Matt Stone in „Bowling for Columbine“ put it properly:
>>...you believe in Highschool and a lot of it´s kids but the teachers and counselors and principals don´t help things. They scare you into doing and conforming and doing good in school by saying: „If you´re a loser now, you´re gonna be a loser forever." Now Eric and Dylan ... They [other students; HE] called them „fag“ [German: „Schwuchtel“; HE], and it´was like „Now I´m a fag, I´ll be a fag forever.“ (...)You know, highschool´s not the end... a year and a half or a year? (...) You´re done, it´s amazing how fast you lose touch with all these people. But they beat it in your head as early as 6th grade: „Don´t *beep* up because if you do, you´re gonna die poor and lonely.“ And you don´t wanna do that. And you´re like: „*beep*! Whatever I´m now, I´m that forever.“ ... But of course it´s completely opposite! The worst in highschool go and do the great things and all the really cool guys are all like ... insurance-agents... Almost person to person, it´s completely that way. Somebody should have told´em that, maybe they wouldn´t have done the thing.<< [the „Columbine-assault“; HE]
Consequently this movie spares the end that everyone would expect and solves the tragedy ... hm ... not exactly towards a „happy end“ but at least with perspectives for all the persons. The movie´s cast and crew walked a thin line here and succeeded. The end is optional, but not „constructed“ or „foul-compromising“.
I second the Matt-Stone-quote again. No, you are not what you are in school for the rest of your lifes; neither the king, nor the nerd. But wether or not you support and integrate the rather weaker or strange ones among you by now will yet today say a lot about your social competence later.
I consider „None of you cen ever be sure“ as material in the „Ethics“-lessons aside with „Bowling For Columbine“, „Heathers“ and „Die Welle“, "American History X" or ... well, to get the gravity out of the discussion even „Grosse Point Blank“.
It is also a valuable insert into the discussion about how students and pupils (and also teachers) in Germany must pay for the policy failures with ridiculous restructurations („Turbo-Abi“, „Studiengebühren“, „Bachelor“ & „Master“ replacing the „Diploma“) and the role of computergames and rockmusic as scapegoats for the social and scholary results („Pisa-Studie“) of Germany´s misguided and ignorant school-, social- and materialistic policy during recent decades. Guys, you can´t raise college-fees, cut the school-term by a year and the socialwor-budgets and let the corporations get out of their social duty to employ trainees and then wonder why you gotta import IT-experts from the other end of the world by Green-Cards because Germany is running short on homegrown cracks.
Or wonder why people just turn violent because the government doesn´t force the economy to create jobs and millions of people sit around unemployed to get stigmatized as lazy slobs.
In fact I wonder, why not more people here go amok, when they get fired by the thousands while the CEOs cash-in the millions. We need a salary-cap, a salary-cup („Mindestlohn 8,-€) and –after the latest economic colapse- a state-controlled economy; screw the idiots who panicking yell „Socialism“ against that.
To quote `Public Enemy´ here: „THE GOVERNMENT IS RESPONSIBLE+++ THE GOVERNMENT IS RESPONSIBLE+++ THE GOVERNMENT IS RESPONSIBLE+++ THE GOVERNMENT IS RESPONSIBLE+++ THE GOVERNMENT IS ...“
This comment is dedicated to Mrs Elke S., who directed the English-B-class mentioned above to wich I fled from Mrs W. and who was an excellent teacher, fair, kindhearted and blessed with a fine, dry northern-german sense of humor.
Without your work, I couldn´t comment on imdb and also couldn´t have done some terrific vacations in english-speaking countries without some difficulties.
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* inserted nick here