Wetlands (2013)

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Blistering performances.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

I instantly knew that this film was written and directed by men, because the female characters, including Helen, the main character, lack any credibility to me, as a woman. I also felt that the shock factor was only used to make money, not really to achieve any artistic or philosophical depth. It's difficult to shock these days, the film does it by an (excessive) exposure of all kinds of body fluids and dirt, to the point of boredom. I also felt that the main character was shallow and not likable in any way. I'm a big fan of Lars von Trirer and nothing of that which is human is alien to me. But this felt like a desperate call for attention, rather than a valuable (while shocking) cinema.

I came across this movie randomly as a listing on the web and decided I was going to watch it on Netflix. Considering the fact I have never watched a German movie, I started watching this with the idea that things going on in the movie were normal to Germans. I found that absurd and disgusting. I'll later come to understand that it is the Director David Wnendt who is a bit sick, not Germany. The film then started to make sense from that perspective. A dark humor, an escape from reality and the social norms of what is approved if you will. It's a coming of age movie about a girl who is somewhat discovering herself and dealing with the divorce of her parents.The general package is good. Like many European movies I have seen, you sort of feel attached to the characters, like you are there in the movie. The editing, music choice and colors are also warm and in tune with the film.

At the beginning of the movie a comment somebody placed on "Bild Online' said in German that this movies is so revolting and tragic it should never have been made. Although I think the intention was to mock the person who said this, having seen the movie I think that person was right. I like to think I have a pretty strong stomach but at the end of this I felt an overwhelming sense of despair and revulsion. If the purpose of the movie is to cause people to cut their wrists then I think it is a run away success.The story is about a girl who was raised by a cold hearted psychopathic and (as it turns out downright evil) mother and an imbecilic father. In reaction to her mothers obsessive cleanliness she becomes as unhygienic as possible. She is probably meant to be portrayed as some kind of free spirit, but she comes across as a completely self absorbed and quite repulsive person, entirely devoid of any kind of morals or principles. As the movie progressed I ceased making excuses for her and came to loathe her character.At the finale the reason for much of her behavior is revealed, but it doesn't provide closure because this is such a devastating and bleak study of the futility of life, or these peoples lives at any rate. This is a corrosive movie that you will not be better for watching, and I seriously recommend sensitive or depressed people avoid it.

This movie is certainly not for everyone. If thinking of a oozing zit makes you gag, if you get queasy at the sight of blood, if you suffer from nosocomephobia, or tomophobia, or if any mention of bodily fluids instantly offends your sensitivity, i'm sorry to say you'll never get to enjoy this beautiful little movie.If, on the other hand, you're one of those people who, like me, see Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings as a bittersweet shift from a brilliant career in gore (Braindead, Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles); if you share a morbid fascination for human anatomy (in all its scatological glory), or simply find the cultural taboos surrounding it ridiculously irrational; you'll absolutely love this movie.Trying to describe Wetlands, to me, instantly evokes Jeunet's Amélie (as weird as that may sound). They are of course two very different movies, but in the same way, i think, as the modern tale of Sleeping Beauty is so prudishly different from the original Grimm's tale. Both movies essentially revolve around a quirky and naive young woman with family issues striving to find love and meaning in her life through the weirdest and most hare-brained schemes imaginable. And, in that regard, Carla Juni's prodigious embodiment of her character perfectly rivals Audrey Tatou's equally spectacular performance.If you can only find the same charm in Helen's quirkiness as you did in Amélie's, and get past all the visceral lewdness, you'll find Wetlands doesn't really aim to offend or disgust, as some critics would claim. The fact is, those who could only point at that aspect of this movie, were just sadly incapable of braking through that moral wall and seeing beyond it. Some people, of course, will never be able to appreciate the beauty of a garden, because they're too repulsed by the smell of manure...