Kriegerin/Combat Girls is the last film of a kind that has become one of Germany's finest exports. I am thinking of films like "Das Experiment" and "Die Welle" which, directly or indirectly, investigate what lies behind a dictatorship like Nazism and the dangers of falling into one again, which sometimes may seem far away. With this film, this time we are taken very close to the reality of a small (supposedly East) German town where far-right extremists rule the place and intimidate migrants. The point of view is entirely coincident with the main character, Marisa (award-winner Ukrainian-born Alina Levshin), who plays the passionate girlfriend of one of the gang's most violent and dangerous subjects. Her acting is amazing and, as already stated by another reviewer, it brings the film to a totally different level giving it the effectiveness of a documentary. The film is essentially about a girl who seems to know very well what she wants (to the extent that her whole body is covered in tattoos which are also political statements), while in fact some events will force her to reconsider not only her set of values, but also a relationship with a man whose deep love quickly turns into the deepest hate. On the background, there is a side story about Marisa's dying Nazi grandfather. She doesn't want to accept that he had been violent to her own wife before she was born, and that relates directly to the violence she in turn has chosen to surround herself with. A 15 years old seeking to be accepted into the gang is also dragged into this spiral of hate and violence - a consequence of her dominating father - until she understand what that really means. The third girl of the gang is always in the background, she's very passive and hardly talks and shows a melancholy which turns out to be a result of life's injustice. This is in my opinion the best German film since Gegen die Wand/Head On. Both educational and a piece of -literally- screaming art. A must see!
Review of Combat Girls
