The incredibly homo-erotic romp that takes place in an empty but extremely muddy swimming pool, between a skin head and a new-age traveller is the best thing about this film. The scene appears miraculously in the middle of it. Otherwise it is devoid of passion, compassion or any form of love.

Janosch (Sascha Backhaus), who has run away from home and become a skinhead in Dortmund, finds that he is far from capable of beating up hippy Zottel (Jens Veith), who lives in a caravan. Before you can say "Oi! Warning" the two nubile young men are locked in each others' arms and are cavorting around a muddy slime pit of a swimming pool. To say that the close ups of chests, biceps, limbs and lips smothered in mud are highly erotic is an understatement.

Violence without responsibility

Unfortunately the rest of this feature could not be more different. Koma (Simon Goerts) is the mate that Janosch goes to stay with after he runs away from home. This unpleasant character gets his girlfriend pregnant, and she has twins. His sense of responsibility toward her does not change as a result. Koma strolls happily through this story beating people up (or having them beaten up), pogoing violently at skinhead gigs and generally being thoroughly unpleasant. The only part of his life that is uncommonly organised is his wardrobe. Most of the clothes in it are identical, white and neatly stacked.

Interestingly, Koma does not seem remotely infatuated with Janosch until he secretively watches him having the sexual romp with Zottel. Thus when he jealously demands that Janosch burn down Zottel's caravan, it comes as a complete surprise. Luckily Janosch finally hits Koma over the head with a brick when he discovers that Koma has killed Zottel. I only wish he had done it sooner.

Oi! Warning contains many separate scenes - gigs, boxing matches, fights, (one where the loser gets to drink urine out of a bottle), outings, chats, but fails in having a really gripping plot line. It is more a sequence of unpleasant short, sharp shocks. Seeing it is an experience akin to bouncing around upside down on a pogo stick.

Not exposed as racist?

On a political note a worrying factor of the film is its treatment of violence within the skinhead movement. It is portrayed as fun. One has the feeling that someone opposed to skinheads would find it appalling, but if you were a skinhead you might find this film 'cool'. It looks like skinheads spend their lives partying and beating people up, but the film fails to cover the racist angle of being a skinhead. If the directors felt that this was not part of the storyline, one might ask that since they chose an anti-social group such as this to tell a story with, than they have missed an important aspect of their lives.

In a new Germany that is struggling to cope with foreign races and integrating them into the society, any 'good press' about the skinhead movement is disquieting. It is worrying that the press screening I saw this film at was packed (one of the few films showing within the Neue Deutsche Filme section that was). The audience cheered and whistled at the end. One can only hope that the most part of them were crew and cast, not appreciative fans.

Elke de Wit, 22 May 2000

Elke de Wit reviews other Neue deutsche Filme shown at the 50th Berlinale:

Dumping the Girlfriend Klaus Krämer's Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabass

Warning: Football Can Damage Your Health Tomy Wigand's Fussball ist unser Leben

Just Good Friends? Anne Høegh Krohn's Fremde Freundin

Romanticising Misogyny Egon Günther's Die Braut

Sensual Passion, Nazi Terror Rolf SchĂĽbel's Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod

Ossies on Ice Pepe Danquart's Heimspiel

Sex=mc2 Rosa von Praunheim's Der Einstein des Sex

Wasted Lives in Changing Times Andreas Kleinert's Wege in die Nacht

Dreaming in Colour Veit Helmer's Tuvalu

One Last Lunge at Freedom Sebastian Schipper's Absolute Giganten

Pricking Germany's Racist Conscience Frieder Schlaich's Otomo

Devilishly Bad Bernd Eichinger's Der Große Bagarozy

Chance at the End of the Millennium Thorsten Schmidt's Schnee In Der Neujahrsnacht

Growing up Late Doris DÄ‚¶rrie's Erleuchtung Garantiert

The Sunnier Side of East Germany Leander HauĂźmann's Sonnenallee

Broken by the Streets Maren-Kea Freese's Zoe

Click here for the Berlinale website

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