The Edukators 2005

In the midst of 2004’s tumultuous Berlin landscape, three young anti-capitalist revolutionaries - Jule (Julia Jentsch), her boyfriend Peter (Stipe Erceg) and his confidant Jan (Daniel Brühl) - find themselves entwined in a complex web of rebellion and intrigue. Jule, burdened by the weight of a €100,000 debt incurred from a fateful car crash involving Hardenberg’s (Burghart Klaußner) luxury Mercedes-Benz S-Class, struggles to make ends meet as she navigates the city’s underbelly. Following her eviction for non-payment of rent, Jule finds solace in the company of Peter and Jan, who spend their nights engaging in clandestine activities that blur the lines between education and vandalism.

As Peter absents himself in Barcelona, Jan confesses to Jule that he and Peter have been “reeducating” the city’s elite by infiltrating their homes, rearranging furniture and leaving provocative messages such as “die fetten Jahre sind vorbei” (“the days of plenty are over”) or “Sie haben zu viel Geld” (“you have too much money”). Enthralled by Jan’s nocturnal exploits, Jule convinces the hesitant activist to join her on a midnight caper at Hardenberg’s opulent residence in Zehlendorf. As they breach the security of his lavish abode, the thrill of the heist proves irresistible, and Jule and Jan find themselves succumbing to the passion of the moment before parting ways.

However, their impromptu tryst is short-lived, as Jule’s carelessness inadvertently triggers the house’s floodlights, prompting a hasty retreat. When Peter returns the next day, Jan and Jule omit the details of their adventure from their narrative, opting instead to feign innocence. But when Jule realizes that her mobile phone has gone missing, she and Jan embark on a nocturnal expedition to retrieve it from Hardenberg’s property.

Their reconnaissance mission culminates in an unexpected confrontation with Hardenberg himself, who recognizes Jule upon entering the house. As he struggles with Jule, Jan intervenes, subduing the wealthy businessman with a flashlight. Stunned by their sudden involvement in this tangled web of morality, the trio resorts to desperate measures, ultimately spiriting Hardenberg away to a remote cabin belonging to Jule’s uncle in the picturesque Tyrolean Austrian Alps near Jenbach, overlooking the serene Achensee.

As they grapple with the implications of their actions and the moral ambiguity of their captive, they discover that Hardenberg was once a radical himself during the 1960s, a leader of the Socialist German Student Union and close friend to the enigmatic Rudi Dutschke. As tensions simmer beneath the surface, Jule, Peter, Jan, and Hardenberg find themselves bound together by threads of rebellion, idealism, and disillusionment, their fates intertwined in a complex tapestry that threatens to unravel at any moment.

As the narrative unfolds, the characters’ personal dynamics and ideological convictions take center stage. Tensions arise as Peter and Jan experience a temporary rift over Jan’s burgeoning connection with Jule, while Hardenberg exhibits subtle signs of his former self reemerging.

The trio ultimately comes to realize that kidnapping Hardenberg was an incorrect decision, and they return him to his residence, opting to set him free. As they prepare to depart, Hardenberg bestows a letter upon Jule, absolving her debt and vowing not to involve the authorities in any way. The film concludes with Peter, Jan, and Jule slumbering peacefully together, as a group of heavily armed police, part of Germany’s elite Spezialeinsatzkommando unit, assemble outside their apartment and knock on the door. Jule stirs from her sleep upon hearing the knock, only to find the police forcing entry into the near-empty flat.

Meanwhile, in Barcelona, Jule awakens to the sound of a hotel maid seeking to clean their room. In stark contrast, back in Berlin, the police discover a handwritten note: “Manche Menschen ändern sich nie” (“some people never change”). This enigmatic message seems to hint at the enduring nature of humanity’s flaws. Interestingly, the German original features an alternate ending where The Edukators embark on Hardenberg’s boat in the Mediterranean, with their sights set on disrupting the island-based signal towers that supply television programming to Western Europe.