Free Rainer (2007)

Director:

Hans Weingartner

Writers:

Katharina Held (writer)
Hans Weingartner (writer)

Release Date:

15 November 2007 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Frustrated, because he is forced to produce bad TV-shows, a manager of a TV-station, enters the station and manipulates the ratings, to initiate a TV-revolution. |

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Moritz Bleibtreu	...	Rainer
Elsa Schulz Gambard	...	Pegah (as Elsa Sophie Gambard)
Milan Peschel	...	Phillip
Simone Hanselmann	...	Anna
Gregor Bloéb	...	Maiwald
Franziska Knuppe	...	Maiwalds Freundin
Urs Conradi	...	Frau Arnim (as Us Conradi)
Tom Jahn	...	Bernd
Robert Viktor Minich	...	Harry
Ralf Knicker	...	Sebastian
Andreas Brandt	...	Karl-Heinz
Irshad Panjatan	...	Gopal
Doris Golpashin	...	Moderatorin (as Doris Goldpashin)
Vinzenz Kiefer	...	Junger Kollege - Titanic Show
Peer Jäger	...	Gründgens

Also Known As:

Free Rainer - Dein Fernseher lügt (Germany) (new title)
Reclaim Your Brain (International: English title) (festival title)

Runtime:

120 min | Germany:138 min

Country:

Austria | Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Certification:

Germany:12 | Canada:14A

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

Coop 99

It is all about the message

Hans Weingartner's third movie is a harsh but highly legitimate comment on today's television program.

Unlike in "Die Fetten Jahre sind vorbei" you could find many things to criticize here - while the comparison to that last movie can hardly be avoided. Much of "Free Rainer" has obviously been inspired by the same concepts, which could make you question how much inspiration there was behind this movie at all. You will find many points that leave a rather ambivalent impression concerning realism - the ending has to be called "fantasy like". At few points does the movie really convince with its' optimistic idea of how the characters and the whole scenario develops.

So what makes "Free Rainer" worth watching? Simple as often: It's the message behind all of this - which can only be understood as a comment on today's world of television. And as for this comment: There has since long not been said anything more important in a movie! Weingartner's portrait of a sick and sickening life standard drawn by the TV world is very close to reality. The rather negative way in which the TV executives appear might even be called too optimistic - while in the movie they seem just to be immoral and very well knowing what they do, reality might look somewhat worse: Most of the people in charge are probably acting in accordance to their very own moral principles.

One critic wrote "Weingartner's movie is a crude comment on an even cruder television". Very right!