Lately German movies seem to come in trilogies. While three films ("Harte Jungs", "Crazy" and "Schule") dealt with school-life in a more or less authentic way last year, at the beginning of 2001 within only two weeks another trio of films ("Grüne Wüste", "alaska.de" and "Die innere Sicherheit") started here that deals with the life of teenagers outside of school. Each of these movies features a very promising and talented young actress (Tatjana Trieb, Jana Pallaske and Julia Hummer) in the leading role and each of these movies is excellent in its own way - but that's where the similarities end.
"alaska.de" is an excellent film because it perfectly combines an acute problem of Germany's society today (the increasing youth violence) with a very elaborated style (the director shot music videos before she made her feature-film debut with this movie). Most of the actors are amateurs from the very same "Plattenbau" buildings where the film takes place, which adds a lot of realism (e.g. authentic dialogue).
Although it's a tragic story, it never gets bleak and depressing thanks to Pallaske's charm and the atmosphere (mainly created by visuals and music), which ought to appeal to a young target audience.
"alaska.de" is an excellent film because it perfectly combines an acute problem of Germany's society today (the increasing youth violence) with a very elaborated style (the director shot music videos before she made her feature-film debut with this movie). Most of the actors are amateurs from the very same "Plattenbau" buildings where the film takes place, which adds a lot of realism (e.g. authentic dialogue).
Although it's a tragic story, it never gets bleak and depressing thanks to Pallaske's charm and the atmosphere (mainly created by visuals and music), which ought to appeal to a young target audience.