Sadly Over-hyped

Memorable, crazy movie

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

"The State I Am In" (2000 release from Germany; 106 min.; original title "Die innere Sicherheit", or "The Inner Certainty") brings the story of a couple and Jeanne, their 15 yr. old daughter. As the movie opens, we get to know them in Portugal, where as it turns out they are hiding, on the run from the law back in Germany. Jeanne makes the acquaintance of a boy she likes, much to the worry of her parents. Then one day, their apartment is robbed, and in the aftermath, the family goes on the run again, this time back to Germany as they are almost out of money and have nowhere else to go. To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: first, this movie is written and directed by Christian Petzold, one of the premier movie directors from Europe in the last 15 years. Just a few years ago, he brought us that other excellent political and psychological drama "Barbara". Second, the tension in the movie is palpable from the get-go and it stays that way throughout the movie. Third, while the name is never mentioned in the movie, the director and others comment (n the DVD bonus materials) that the couple's past, never explained in the movie, relates to the Rote Armee Fraction (RAF), the terrorist group which violently fought again the (then West) German state in the 70s and early 80s. Fourth, the main character in the movie is the 15 yr. old girl, who has been tagging along with her parents her entire life, and now she is at the awkward stage where she is interested in boys and in leading a normal, both of which as seemingly impossible to attain. Julia Hummer as Jeanne is a true revelation, just outstanding.Bottom line, "The State I Am In" is a top-notch psychological and family drama with some serious political undercurrents as well. I was glued to the screen from start to finish. If only Hollywood took a clue from this that you don't need to blow up the world in smithereens every five minutes to make a compelling, riveting movie. "The State I Am IN' is HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

"The State I Am In" stands on its own as a superior character study, but for me the cast was superior to the script. Julia Hummer, Barbara Auer, and Richie Muller are the perfect actors for a politically radical "family" permanently on the lam. However, the Clara and Hans roles might benefit from a little more background and Jeanne, especially Jeanne, Clara's daughter and the film's protagonist, seems too conventional for someone in her position. Revising Jeanne by just one character substitute would makes the film more convincing, original, adult, and subversive. It's hard for me to believe that a 15 year old teen who has lived her entire life in the underground with two revolutionary adults should be cast in so discordant a frame. Why is a typical romance at the center of her break out world? Why at 15 is she jealous of her mother's love-making; why is this the passion she must realize rather than say a passion for justice? Why does she have more diffidence in the young man's presence than in that of her "parents?" Given that the German Internal Security Forces are moving in on these dear three, how is this the moment for her confrontation with Clara and Hans? And why does she seem a bit too middle class, spoiled, and ultimately too destructive to be the daughter of a radical couple? In contrast, the Clara and Hans roles are more convincing. They seem to be what their lives have dictated. They are disciplined, adult, competent, intelligent, and rarely and only momentarily under the sway of their emotions. They work together and hard to build a life despite their isolation; they accept that theirs is not the loving relationship that might belong to them in a different world; and most critically, it is their sense of leadership and equality that holds them together. As does their mutual love for Clara's daughter, from whom they expect a lot in the way of learning, mature discernment, and discipline.But Jeanne more often than not, does not seem to be a reflection of Clara and Hans, nor of their hard earned independence and values. She only partly flourishes under her "parents" mutual respect and love for her. She time and time again risks her "family's" safety for the sake of a little romance/sex. Why doesn't she feel more deprived by her lack of social world, recognition, or opportunities for practicing the social justice Clara and Hans gave up their freedom for? Of course, the Jeanne of the film is possible, but it seems to me this film would have been much more challenging if she were cast as a social actor of some kind. This is a political, not a psychological threesome. Her blossoming independence needs to find realization in something to at least match the seriousness of her life and parents, say a trustworthy friend, or some other connection that drives her outside her troubled mind. If her parents opposed corporate domination she perhaps could be shown opposing male dominationREVISION: Substitute for the dime store romance a close friendship with a truly independent young woman her age. (perhaps the interesting teenager who directly approaches her to attend the school film) The break out would center around this budding friendship. Say this young woman has a friend who is being sexually harassed by her teacher or coach, and she decides to organize a protest on her behalf. Jeanne decides to attend it, is arrested, spends a little time with her friend in the clinker and while out on bail, Internal Security closes in on her, Clara and Hans. In an ensuing chase, they make it across the border, Jeanne from the backseat puts one arm around Hans, one around Clara, their heads squeezed together in a bobbing embrace as their white Opel put-puts down the road. Curtains. An end with no betrayal, no requisite deaths of the revolutionaries. All the irresolutional conflicts which beset the three would at least for the time find respite. Jeanne would answer her search for all that already existed within her in both her friend's world and in Clara and Hans. And a sense of promise would enter the lives of those who have been sentenced to none.

With „Die innere Sicherheit" Christian Petzold, German director, brings us an interesting piece of cinema. It's the study of the 15-year-old girl Jeanne (Julia Hummer), whose parents are both living underground, and what this means for her life, mainly in terms of first love or personality development. Petzold is able to create a kind of tense atmosphere. The viewer feels sorry for Jeanne, but at the same time you can understand why she is so loyal to her parents. They are simply the only persons that really know her. Through their constant moving she has no one else, so she has to protect the only relationship she has. For a period of time, she thinks she has found another person to trust in Heinrich, but he can't handle this difficult situation. Julia Hummer delivers an outstanding performance, while there are some flaws throughout the movie in the storyline of the parents (played by Richi Müller and Barbara Auer).

"Die innere Sicherheit" features a family on the run, the parents seeming to be former terrorists and their fifteen year old daughter the involuntary hostage of the state of things she had the bad luck to be born into. Things start getting complicated when its not just the never vanishing state of paranoia which has to be coped with, but when the young daughter starts to revolt against a life that does not allow her to have her own life.When everything´s said and done Christian Petzolds film is an inofficial remake of Sidney Lumet´s much and unjustly underrated "Running on Empty" (1988) from the word go. And though Lumet´s film may be the better executed, Petzold´s is the more intimate one. Its two major strongholds being its bleak style on the one hand (with the family´s car being almost the only place in the world where the three are safe; which is in fact one meaning of the title: the security of the interior) and Julia Hummer´s sensational performance as the terrorists young daughter.