Tore, a
teenage German boy, is a member of a religious group called the “Jesus Freaks”
who combine religion with rock music and are stationed in Hamburg. One day whilst walking with a fellow member,
Tore comes across a family having some serious car trouble. While having no mechanical ability at all,
Tore believes that he can still help the family thanks to the strength of his
faith. He then goes about placing his
hands on the bonnet of the car and prays above for the car to start. Looking ridiculous and destined to fail,
amazingly the car does indeed start for Tore, which impresses Benno, the father
figure of the family, who then befriends the boy. After a second chance meeting when Tore’s
living conditions have changed dramatically, Benno brings Tore home with him
who ultimately ends up living with him to the point that he becomes an
unofficial member of the family. Tore
feels blessed to have meet Benno and credits his faith for his change in
fortunes. However the initial kindness Benno
showed is short lived and in its place sprouts a mean spiritedness and a sadism
that seems primarily aimed at Tore in an effort to shake him and destroy his
faith. The way that the family starts
treating Tore is more like an unwanted dog than a human being. Each degrading act punishes the boy either
physically or mentally to the point that all Tore is left with is his
faith. Just how far Benno is willing to
go to destroy the good in Tore is anyone’s guess, as is the fact of whether or
not it is even possible, or is Tore’s faith as strong as he believes it to be?
“Nothing
Bad Can Happen” is an extremely confronting and disturbing film that at times
had me angry to the point of hating the film.
The abuse that Tore suffers is so brutal and degrading that it becomes
sickening to watch. I say this, but upon
reflection I realized that the scenes of abuse are not at all graphic. They have been tastefully shot but deliver
such an emotional gut-punch that you just can’t help but be sickened by them.
There
are times during the film that you just want to shake Tore because he keeps
going back to the family who hurts him, but when the purpose behind his actions
is revealed at the end and you understand why he suffered the way he did, you
actually love him for it. Julius Feldmeier
plays our main character Tore and initially I wasn’t a fan of his performance;
it was just far too mannered. Tore
seemed to constantly walk around with this goofy smile on his face complete
with his naïve view on life, always seeing the good in everything due to his
unshakable faith. He is an awkward
character and one that is initially hard to like, however as the film goes on,
Feldmeier becomes increasingly stronger in the role, adding gravitas to his
character and Tore starts to finally feel like a real person, as he witnesses
and acknowledges the darkness possible from another human being. Interestingly, director Katrin Gebbe
mentioned in her Q&A that the film was shot chronologically and it was also
her belief that the performances within the film are much stronger towards the
end because the actors had lived with their characters long enough to actually
become them.
Sascha
Alexander Gersak as Benno is just scary (and scarily good) at how easily he was
able to portray pure evil. Some of the
things he has to do in the film are just shocking, and while I am sure these
scenes were uncomfortable to shoot for all involved, Gersak is able to inject a
sadistic glint in the eye of his character showing just how much he enjoys
delivering all of this pain. He really
is terrifying at times and yet so charismatic at the start of the film that you
never once question why Tore would initially accept his proposal to stay with
him and his family.
This is
director Katrin Gebbe feature debut and it is obvious that she is not afraid of
tackling confronting material. It is
also easy to see that she has a keen visual eye (and an eye for detail) as some
of her images are just stunning, even during the scenes of torture (thus
proving that beauty and ugliness can indeed co-exist in the same image). There is a shot towards the end of the film
that was so beautiful and devastating in equal measure; it is a shot of an eye
and a drop of water that has welled in its lifeless corner.
Personally
I am not a religious man, but the allusions to Jesus and his story in “Nothing
Bad Can Happen” really impressed me. Is
Tore a modern day Jesus? The more the
film went on, the more I started to believe it so. I also liked that Gebbe did not treat Tore’s
religious beliefs with contempt. His
unshakeable faith may appear strange or even funny at times but Gebbe never
makes fun of it herself. She represents
it with a truthfulness and a respect that adds to the experience. In fact that is true of the whole film, Gebbe
never backs away from the truth of a situation do matter how dark it may get.
Interestingly
the biggest reveal of the whole film happens just as the credits start to roll
when the words “BASED ON A TRUE STORY” come on the screen. You suddenly realize that someone actually
went through all this torture and pain for real, and the horror of the story
hits you all over again.
Overall,
I found “Nothing Bad Can Happen” to be an incredibly confronting film and while
at times it made me angry throughout, at the end of the day I think it is a
great film. It is a film that stays with
you and just gets under your skin. There
is so much pain within it though, that I do not know if I could force myself to
sit through it all again. Director
Katrin Gebbe obviously has a unique vision on the world and isn’t afraid to
delve into the dark side of the human psyche.
I cannot wait to see what she does next.
4 Stars.
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