Revanche

Very rarely do so many people easily identify themselves with criminals, very rarely do they understand their humanity and feelings. It is always a lot easier to say that they are not worth the effort, that they even do not feel. With all due respect, they are human and they too have a storm breaking within their heart.

Revanche, Austria's nominee for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film 2009, directed by Götz Spielmann, is a movie focusing on the human aspect of such a criminal.

The movie starts with a couple in the city, in Vienna; the woman, Tamara, is an illegal immigrant from Ukraine, working as a prostitute in a brothel while the man, Alex, runs errands in the same brothel. The two have a secret relationship; it is forbidden for them to be involved in a romantic affair with each other. Tired of having to steal moments from their wasting way of life in order to be together and happy, and tired of the boss' plans on Tamara, they run away one day; problem is, they need money, but Alex has a plan: he will rob the local bank - easy and neat. However, the things do not go according to plan, and Tamara is accidentally killed by the police officer that try to catch them.

Now, up to that point, you think that you are watching a thriller, and not even so much an original one. Yet, almost everyone who sees the film agrees that, from the moment Alex realizes that Tamara is shot and dead, the film takes a turn. In the center of the remaining story is the revenge that Alex wants to take for his girlfriend's death, however, it is not quite an obsessive one, in fact, it becomes the one thing that causes a complete change in Alex, to a better self. He goes to the farm where his grandfather lives in, at first just to hide and mourn, however as he starts working there in order to help his grandfather, he opens himself, somewhat quite reluctantly, to whole new feelings, while he is seen from outside, as if closing himself to his inner thoughts. By chance, he meets Susanne, the wife of the police officer, who is a nice but unhappy woman with problems in her marriage, and gets involved in a surprising and sudden relationship with her, which consists of a mild aggressiveness, eventually softened a bit by Susanne, and two nights of sex. As there is always Alex and how he tries to cope with Tamara's death and his own feelings of revenge in the center, he is not the only one in this equation; Robert, the police officer, is also trying to cope with the fact that whether by accident or not, he killed a person, and is not understood by his wife or his colleagues; and Susanne is recovering from her miscarriage, trying to get pregnant again, as her husband gets more and more away from her emotionally. The three people, whose real connections are only known to Alex, get involved within a relationship knot, as the two protagonists, namely Susanne and Alex, unknowingly help each other overcome their problems.


For about the first 45 minutes of the film, I thought that I was watching a routine hide and seek story, but the minute Tamara is dead and Alex is crushed by that fact, crying by himself night after night, I realized that the movie was in fact a character study, with a credibility that only a few European actors and directors could manage. Even in the best Hollywood movies, or European ones, if there is a leading star, then the movie loses its somewhat reality, however, Revanche overcomes the problems of storytelling, to the extent that the viewer is convinced that the actors are actual people for the remaining 70 minutes. It is a long movie, but the tension of what might happen anytime, with a possibility of sudden outbursts of feelings or realities keeps you intensely connected to it. 'Whose fault is it if life doesn't go your way?' is the motto of the movie, and is the question that characters in the movie keep on asking themselves in their inner thoughts continuously throughout the course of the film.

Apart from the profound character studies, visually the director uses many contrasts creating the ambience of the film, such as the complete serenity of the nature contradicting the tension of the people. The elements of the nature become the props of the movie, as the sound of the wind through the leaves of the trees become the soundtrack or one indifferent bench by the side of the lake becomes the most important stage setting through the end.


What is most important about the movie is that you understand those people, even if you have never worked as a prostitute, never killed anyone, never robbed a bank, or slept with a complete stranger, for these become only the small details eventually. Whatever happens to us, it is just another event triggering whole new and different emotions, taking our lives to many other turns. There is no lesson that can be learned from this movie, and yet, it is not its intention, the film just makes you, the audience, eventually turn to your innerself and makes you realize that any story in your life is a possible movie.