Weltverbesserungs-maßnahmen
Germany 2005

Opening 11 Aug 2005

Directed by: Jörn Hintzer
Writing credits: Jörn Hintzer, Jakob Hüfner
Principal actors: Andreas Nickl, Peer Martiny, Dabe Paschke, Astrid Rashed

In this German satire, whose title roughly translates to “solutions for a better world”, people discuss problems and how to solve them. They complain about traffic, fresh air, health insurance and single children. In good German Grundlichkeit (thoroughness), they establish eingetragende Vereine (clubs), which meet, analyze, and map out plans. Filmed in documentary style, each scene presents a problem and a solution. After much debate and soul-searching, the group members decide that cars must start from a red light simultaneously; jobless people can hire out as siblings to single children; neighbors will learn basic medical skills to operate on each other, offices are moved outside and everyone can wear special shoes. The Germans poke fun at themselves in a rare flash of hilarious humor – at least the directors Jörn Hintzer and Jakob Hüfner had fun making the film and I laughed throughout. Highly recommended to non-Germans as well as to Germans, it’s not often that we can laugh about typical local eccentricities and chronic complaining, highly exaggerated. Most of us will be able to understand the relatively easy German spoken. I must admit some of it has rubbed off on me and as a long-term foreigner in this country, I’ve also learned to speak up and assert myself in the German way. (Isabel Stolte)