Forces

At just 14 years old, Daniel's (Malte Oskar Frank) life is already characterized by pervasive emotional coldness and inner emptiness. With a terminally ill father and a brutal brother at home, Daniel finds solace alone in the silence of a nearby forest. However, an encounter with the mysterious outsider Marcel (Paul Wollin) enables the boy to forge a meaningful connection with another human being. Constantin Hatz's film is reminiscent of a dark fairytale world. His film doesn't need any classic dramaturgy or dialog to introduce us to Daniel's emotional space of experience, his longing for closeness and his vulnerability. The violence in this xenophobic village is rarely explicit, yet it permeates the lives of the characters like an invisible web. This gloomy fable is told in a calm manner. It rarely gets specific. "You have to dare to do that with so little dialog and action. But if you can get into it, the result is well worth seeing. The drama, which premiered at the Berlinale in 2022, is a depressing portrait of a region in which everything human is lost, be it through neglect, disinterest or active oppression. Gewalten' does not offer a way out, nor does it explain how this could happen." (Oliver Armknecht, on: film-rezensionen.de)