- Spoilers Ahead - A class of 17-year olds from Berlin are on an extended schooltrip on the Polish coast. The trip is so boring that they fill their days with the normal teen-activities away from home: drinking, loving, smoking and playing pointless games.Past and future relationships are the main topic of the conversations. Ronny is a silent, introvert outcast who develops a growing interest in Isa, a beautiful and enterprising fellow-student. One night a the local pub they meet the Polish poolboy Marek. Isa now has to divide her attention between the two boys, who are both trying their best to impress her. When daredevil Marek drunkenly jumps into the sea, after being challenged to it by Ronny; Marek never resurfaces. Ronny now winds up together in bed with Isa and the same night of Marek's disappearance Isa gives herself to Ronny. When the police later shows up to question Isa about Marek's disappearance, the(ir) future seems very doubtful ......
This is Hesser Winckler's first long movie and it immediately manages to touch a sensitive nerve. Winckler creates throughout the film a consistent gloomy mood: the main color is gray, the Polish shoreline is a wasteland of deserted swimmingpools and the youth are bored rebels without a cause. Winckler is a very poignant observer who keeps enough distance between his camera (a.k.a. the viewer) and the troubled teens. No explanations are delivered, no moral ground for the viewer to stand on: just 21st century erratic teen behavior. The characterisation of Ronny is superb: without many words Winckler shows the outsider as a plausible love interest for Isa: he has developed a personality of his own, which doesn't mean the ability to plot his own life, but does explain his separation from the rest of the group. Klassenfahrt is in many ways similar to Larry Clark's Bully, but the Berlin-teens don't plan their acts and are not even held accountable for them. All hope is not lost although: the future is a wasteland: new virgin territory.