Topic 101 review: A dark but relevant dystopian thriller

for long stretches topic 101Our main character, identified only as “101” (Jem Ali Gultekin) in the end credits, has no idea what’s going on. He finds himself in gruesome scenes of violence and carnage, sometimes wielding a weapon. He seems to wake up from them, only to find himself in another brutal reality. The scar on the shoulder comes and goes. The tattoo on his arm changes shape. He lost track of time, of himself, of control.

And during that time we are just as dumb as he is. What happened to him is not entirely a secret; Writer-director Tom Bevilacqua portrays allusions to a Manchurian candidate– This is a mind control scenario until we get a chance to read it. But we’re so unsure of what’s real and what’s not, what it’s used for and why. It’s a deeply disorienting experience that’s hard to shake, even if, or especially because: topic 101 offers very little clarity in its conclusion.

However, the main building topic 101 It’s a dystopian slice of science fiction (as the movie itself suggests amid news about the future of microchip technology), it’s firmly rooted in the real world, specifically Hamburg 2019. A Syrian refugee looking for housing and work. He enrolls in a corporate program co-sponsored by the German government, and at first it seems to be just what he needs. The apartment he’s been given is small and shabby, and disturbingly stained with the blood of the previous tenant, and the jobs he’s been given are uninteresting. But he adapts, makes the space comfortable, learns German in his spare time and gradually gets closer to his co-workers.

He is then shot by a shadowy security guard during a concert and a menacing figure (Guido Föhrweisser) in a police car – the license plate ends in “666” because topic 101 It lacks subtlety, it finds it as it goes along. Finally, our hero wakes up with a beard he didn’t have when he passed out and a wound on his shoulder that he can’t open. And then the real nightmare begins.

Bevilacqua does everything possible to make us feel safe. Scenes are lit in bright shades of green and red (the colors of the Syrian flag, of course, not coincidentally) and surrounded by shadows so velvety they look like a void. The camera (Alex Beyer was the cinematographer) is tilted at an awkward angle as the snakes run through corridors that don’t need to be where they are. Extremely wide shots and surveillance cameras evoke a sense of paranoia, while extreme close-ups render faces unrecognizable. topic 101 At times, it points to absolute horror, with hamburger-like meat sound effects and visuals. But it has more impact than a half-eaten apple in a pool of blood or a child’s smiley balloon floating unnoticed across the room.

Whatever happens to the character, he’s been left without a voice, and since he’s the only one on screen for much of the movie, topic 101 He leans heavily on Gultekin’s expressive face. His wide eyes widen and wide with despair or confusion, or sink with sadness, or glow with a chilling emptiness. It’s a character that only gets our sympathy because he’s obviously in a dire situation, but it’s a committed performance by Gultekin that keeps us on our toes as he leaps from one hell to another.

Amidst this fog, other voices are emerging through the media. Of particular interest are the frequent updates on the pursuit of a suspected terrorist and Syrian refugee (Youssef Maghreb), who recently disappeared after making seemingly outlandish claims about mind control. But there are other recurring motifs, like the images of past and present wars that are often shown on the main character’s TV when he arrives, or the silent warnings about the “chaos and disorientation” that can accompany an economic crisis or, God. don. I don’t want . , a pandemic. (Remember, the movie is set in 2019.) They’re a heady stew of anxiety and fear mixed with unconvincing optimism, which means they’re the equivalent of a media diet that many of us eat all the time. of the day.

But before topic 101 Skilled at stirring up uncomfortable emotions or raising concerns, he’s not so good at figuring out what he wants to do with them after he’s mentioned them all. Halfway through the 86-minute run, I started to think all The rest of the movie would be an extended series of unpleasant conversations that he wouldn’t get to see; Fortunately, a temporary shift in focus to a more defined character (Guntbert warns) begins to bring the story back to the third act. Still, the film ends up being more of a tangle of ideas and feelings than a single coherent narrative or message. Those who prefer their thrillers to cover up all their avant-garde edges may feel particularly uncomfortable.

But maybe that’s the point too. topic 101 It does not diagnose society’s ills or offer cures, and it does not pretend to know where it is going. Instead, it serves as an amusing reflection of what many of us already feel in the air: a certain sense of deep distrust and despair, a confusion bordering on hopelessness. This will not make anyone feel comfortable and will certainly frustrate someone in their quest for concrete answers. But for a certain kind of thinking, it can be a certain confirmation.