System Crasher is unforgiving because of its realism. Nine-year-old Benni (Helena Zengel) is a hostage to her own erratic impulses and scalding rage. There's no glimmer of hope. But most essential is the central performance: Zengel’s oscillating wild joys and storming furies are painful to watch. OVERALL SCORE. Actually, anger feels like too tame a word; more accurately, she is frequently overtaken with fits of sky-piercing rage. System Crasher review: Dir. All the time, her dials are up to 11, screaming, laughing too loud, swearing, punching. System Crasher Review Posted by Luke Kent on Oct 24, 2019 System crasher: a foster child who has repeatedly broken every given rule until the system built to support them runs out of options. Child actor Helena Zengel is terrifying as a violent problem kid who tests the limits of everyone around her in this compelling German drama, Last modified on Mon 30 Mar 2020 15.45 BST. ‘Painful to watch’: Helena Zengel as Benni in System Crasher. System Crasher. There's no glimmer of hope. Available to stream via Curzon Home Cinema and Mubi, Why the German care system can't protect its most troubled children. System Crasher is available on Curzon Home Cinema and Mubi from 27 March. System Crasher is not an indictment on German Child Services either. System Crasher is all about Benni, played with an enormous zeal by Helena Zengel who entices, shocks and terrifies in equal measure. She plays Benni, a violent, uncontrolled and near-feral problem kid who takes the social services to breaking point and beyond. August 26, 2020. Nora Fingscheidt. So what is System Crasher? review. Her hunger for love sharpens with each rejection; rejections that she herself pre-emptively engineers, severing emotional ties with a brandished bread knife or a chair hurled at a head. Oliver Kaever (Spiegel Online) described System Crasher in a brief review as “the opposite of a family-film” and praised the actors’ performances as “magnificent”, especially the female lead Helena Zengel. System Crasher review – a compelling portrait of childhood violence and pain . System Crasher 9 year old Benni has been in the ‘system’ for years. This review may contain spoilers. This film is Fingscheidt’s debut film and was selected as the German entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards. It’s a trip that involves borderline-inappropriate intimacy with this intense child – a risk that appears not to have occurred to the entirely blameless Micha. System Crasher Review : SUMMARY. 5. The smartest choice in System Crasher, a visually frenetic film about a nine-year-old girl stuck in the German care system, is one of costume design. Most of the time, Benni is simply scary, a sociopath in training, quite unteachable and unreformable, horrible to the people trying to help her like the scorpion that stings the frog because that’s its nature. Albrecht Schuch Gabriela Maria Schmeide Helena Zengel. A grisly, gripping watch. Writer and director Nora Fingscheidt uses every tool at her disposal to connect us with the short circuiting electrical fire of Benni’s mind. System Crasher Review. There are no easy answers, and no sadistic misgivings or idealistic happy endings either. At one stage, a strategic soundtrack use of Nina Simone’s track Ain’t Got No – I Got Life seems to suggest that we should sympathise with Benni as a tiny whirlwind force of nature who resists being crushed by drab authority. System Crasher is unforgiving because of its realism. System Crasher review – gripping tale of a nine-year-old on the edge Child actor Helena Zengel is terrifying as a violent problem kid who tests the limits of everyone around her in … From desperate and annoyed care takers to a clueless system which fails Benni, she cannot cope with her trauma and resorts to violence and anger. There are times, when Zengel is performing with other children, especially younger children, when you get the strange sense that this isn’t acting – it is actually happening. She is also a bright spark, and has a force of nature … While Benni is eerily unaffected, the strain takes its toll on Bafané, reducing her to an emotional wreck, and the same is true of another social worker, Micha (Albrecht Schuch), a tough young guy who is no pushover, and who takes Benni away for a tough-love stay in his cabin in the woods. In the lead role, young Helena Zengel is mightily impressive, showing the natural depth of a born actress as she pours her energy into System Crasher (Systemsprenger). Nora Fingscheidt (2020) Posted on April 1, 2020 by Jazmine Sky Bradley Leave a comment Pouring a lot of heart into her latest feature-length release, German writer and director Nora Fingscheidt hits screens with System Crasher , a powerful story of what happens when a child crash lands in the care system. Benni has a charming streak that has seduced a number of social workers to make an emotional investment in her, to take risks for her, to go out on a limb for her, only for her to let them down and in a sense to consume them as eagerly and unrepentantly as a vampire. The title of German director Nora Fingscheidt’s feature film debut evokes a unique declaration of chaos or disobedience — suggesting force, speed, collision, noise, and rejection of societal rules. It's simply the life of a child who cannot be saved by her society. And all the time, the stakes get higher and the morale lower. [ READ MORE: First Look Review - Bull] System Crasher doesn't offer any easy answers and refuses to tie up Benni's story in a bow. Review by Millicent Thomas @millicentgames. The Observer Drama films System Crasher review – searing portrait of a broken psyche Helena Zengel shines as a furiously traumatised child in … Frau Bafané, Micha are genuinely hard-working and caring, and they seem to have a number of tools are their disposal. It's simply the life of a child who cannot be saved by her society. While it may test viewers' patience, System Crasher is a thoughtful and compassionate portrait of one child's trauma and anger, featuring an enigmatic Helena Zengel in the lead role. Friday March 27 2020, 12.01am, The Times. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review. Until they become un-fosterable, too young to be put in closed care, but too much of a danger to be taken in by those caring for other children. Helena Zengel in System Crasher (Kineo) Alternating between heartfelt and frustrating, System Crasher features magnificent performances in an all too familiar narrative. terrifying performance from nine-year-old German actor Helena Zengel is at the centre of this sombre drama from Nora Fingscheidt. System Crasher: Lightly Denting the System (Review) by Anthony Bowmer. Anticipation. The central character bleeds into the craft of this superb German drama. But that’s not how this gruesome, compelling film is playing out. Gilets, jumpers, windcheaters, hats: Benni (Helena Zengel) will wear anything so long as it’s in shocking pink. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review. They’re troubled, violent and hard to place anywhere. She plays Benni, a violent, uncontrolled and near-feral problem kid who takes the social services to breaking point and beyond. System Crasher is the outstanding feature film debut of German director Nora Fingscheidt. The film centers around Benni, a "problem child" who, due to a mostly undisclosed childhood trauma, suffers from fairly regular bouts of uncontrollable anger. The result of early abuse, she has serious anger management and rebellion issues and is so antisocial even her own Mother cannot deal with her. System Crasher is a movie about a tricky subject, and as such is liable to make a couple of people very uncomfortable. 3 minute read. A “system crasher”, as it evidently turns out, is a … Starring. It becomes clear early on that like Xavier Dolan's Mommy, this is a tale of a child who has fallen through the cracks of a system and the people who try their best to help them, if in vain. Posted by Maria Lattila Published . A moment when she howls for her mother (always tantalisingly out of reach) brought me to tears. With a breathtaking performance from Helena Zengel as its beating, battered heart, System Crasher examines the lasting effects of childhood trauma on one very special girl and it questions whether some wounds can ever truly heal. Enjoyment. Benni (Helena Zengel) is nine years old. The camerawork has a hyperactive mania that, together with the glitchy editing and a rushing, skittering score, captures the headlong dash of Benni’s interaction with the world. System Crasher review — you’ll be screaming too by the end of this paper-thin drama. Kevin Maher. System Crasher review – a compelling portrait of childhood violence and pain Nora Fingscheid’s social realist drama about a troubled 9-year-old is as tough as it is tender . As a truthful portrait of a young person who is at once vulnerable and still so brilliant, System Crasher thrives, and earns a deep sense of urgency. System Crasher (Systemsprenger) features a tremendous central performance from Helena Zengel, along with superb use of editing and colour. She has been moved from foster home to foster home. by Joseph Walsh Thursday, 26 March 2020. Helena Zengel shines as a furiously traumatised child in Nora Fingscheidt’s extraordinary drama, Last modified on Mon 30 Mar 2020 15.46 BST. From desperate and annoyed care takers to a clueless system which fails Benni, she cannot cope with her trauma and resorts to violence and anger. Slightly overlong and repetitive it might be, but System Crasher is nonetheless an unconventional and powerful drama. System Crasher maintains the same kinetic, frenzied pace as its protagonist, with handheld camera shots, and is uncompromising in its outlook with virtually no downtime. While System Crasher could possibly be shorter and isn’t completely successful in bringing its ideas together into a coherent whole, thanks to Zendel’s mature and magnetic presence it’s a film that will linger in the mind long after the credits roll by. Our protagonist Benni (Helena Zengel) is such a nine-year-old in Nora Fingscheidt's impressive film. Directed by. At one stage, a strategic soundtrack use of Nina Simone’s track Ain’t Got No – I Got Life seems to suggest that we should sympathise with Benni as a tiny whirlwind force of nature who resists being crushed by drab authority. Her key social worker, Frau Bafané (Gabriela Maria Schmeide), tries to get Benni into special schools or facilities; dozens turn her down and Benni is too young to be effectively incarcerated as an inpatient. It doesn’t pull a trigger against those who work in the system nor throw barbs at these things, but shows, in both complex and simple terms, the life of a child who is struggling. Read full review I think this film is intended to be a humanistic portrayal of a broken human being and those desperately trying to help her. A narrative debut from a documentary maker is intriguing in its own right. But a connection with no-nonsense youth worker Micha (Albrecht Schuch) seems to offer a sliver of hope. Share this. System Crasher is a vibrant and courageous film that used an intelligent script and story to pull back the dirty curtains on a system that is all but broken. Early childhood trauma has left unhealed wounds which, as she pinballs between care homes and psychiatric facilities, only seem to get deeper. System Crasher film review . A tiny whirlwind force of nature … Benni (Helena Zengel) in System Crasher. System Crasher review: This is a wail you won’t forget A wildly impressive film powered by a strong cast, great chemistry and fierce energy System crasher, or Systemsprenger in German, is a 2019 drama film directed by Nora Fingscheidt. 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