What to Do in Case of Fire
dir. Gregor Schnitzler
Fri Jan 3-Thurs Jan 9 at the Varsity.
Ordinarily I would avoid judging a movie by its title, but What to Do in Case of Fire is just too representative of the film's jangly clash of ideas and delivery for me to leave well enough alone. It's supposed to have the ring of a protest chant, or perhaps ad copy. One of the movie's friendly Berlin anarchists asks, "What to do in case of fire?," and the rest respond in unison: "Let it burn!" I'm sure this all sounds youthful and rousing in Deutsch, but in English "What to do" isn't even a question--it's a fretful cluck.
What to Do dramatizes the reunion of former radicals who had occupied an empty Berlin building in the '80s, fending off the police and making Super-8 films about their exploits. One of this group's grander schemes back in the day was to blow up a building--but the timer jammed and prevented the explosion. When a real estate agent detonates the bomb 15 years later, the gang of seven reunites in an attempt to cover their tracks.
The movie is predictably nostalgic about the camaraderie of the anarchist '80s, and smug about the ideological transformation the former friends have undergone. Maik (Sebastian Blomberg), the leader of the pack, has become a caricature of a young advertising exec. Lest we mistake his moneyed arrogance for the conviction of a man making mischief from the inside, he wears T-shirts that cheerlead for capitalism. The youthful rebellion of the female characters was apparently less sophisticated; we know they've repudiated their former values because Flo (Doris Schretzmayer) is engaged to be married and Nele (Nadja Uhl) has a couple of kids.
Amid this glorification of the scrappy, director Gregor Schnitzler exhibits inordinate pride in his production values. Even the supposed Super-8 footage of the group's early protests is slick. The product reeks of so many euros that the heart of the script drops out, and you're left with a flock of pretty faces reciting silly lines in unison. What to do, indeed.
