INSIGHT IRON SKY @ BERLINALE

Posted by Philipp on 22 22, 2012 in black, fff, NEWS @en | 0 comments

“We started with this film in the cold winter in Finland. Someone said: Lets make a film about Nazis from the dark side  of the moon. I said great. It took  us six years from that idea to the final film.” – Timo Vuorensola

I can’t think of better place for the premiere of a film about Nazis from the dark side of the moon, than the capital of Germany: Berlin!  „Iron Sky“ opens with an American space capsule landing on the moon. Two astronauts soon make a horrifying discovery: there is a Nazi Colony on the dark side of the moon.  Pretty evil Nazi Soldiers at that, complete with gas masks. One of the astronauts is killed right away, whereas the other, an Afro-American named James Washington (Christopher Kirby) is captured and brought to the swastika-shaped fortress, a pretty cool-looking place which has been the refuge for the escaped Germans from earth since 1945. It is a small state led by the Führer Wolfgang Kortzfleisch (Udo Kier!!!). „Heil Kortzfleisch!“

Can this film live up to the hype? The expectations  that have been steadily building during the six years of hard work for these young Finnish guys, culminating in the realisation of the dream, as this movie is finally brought to our cinemas. The film is supported, as well as contributed to, by an impressive internet-based fan community which have raised about 1 million euros for the movie, out of the total budget of 7.5 million euros. Of course, the moviemakers have created a movie which is liberally doused with special effects and technical finesses, but at the same time, the input from the on-line community means the movie is spiked with jokes and funny little story ideas.

The directing is not always that well done – I guess because of the lack of experience. The big Space battles between Nazis and the Rest of the world are looking good but are not able to develop their own drive and rhythm in the movie. Maby it is because there is no protagonist in the fights between Nazi and earth Spaceships which engage me. It was not easy for me to get draws into this scenery.

This is however made up for, to some extent, by the 980 amazing visual effects shots, incidentally the same amount of CGI shots as in the newest instalment of the Transformers franchise. The quality of the visual effects, along with the smart jokes and clever references, makes it hard to be bored by the film. At the same Iron Sky somehow fails to excite. I mean there are a lot of interesting characters in the film like the crazy Nazi Doctor Mengele like scientist or Wolfgang Krotzfleisch the chocolate addicted Führer. But the main protagonist Frau Richter or her husband Wolfgang who becomes the antagonist, have not enough space in the movie to develop emotionally. We never really get close to their true motivation that drives them.

A political satire, the movie doesn’t single out the Nazi brand of fascism, but goes on to make a lot of statements about the fascistic tendencies of nominally democratic USA. The film is set in 2018 and the US is led by a female president, a Palinesque character, who jump at the chance of leading her country to war as this will secure her re-election. And in a democratic country that is surely what it’s all about! Or Not?

The guys behind the movie have accomplished something tremendous in bringing the project to completion. This is a kick-ass Nazi- punk movie! A strike against the elite & funding policy which are still in control of what kind of movies are getting financed. Crazy sci- fi movies with a lot of space battles in it. They will no longer decide what kind of movies we’re gonna see in our cinemas. It is a liberation for all nerds to see a movie like Iron Sky on the big screen and in such high quality. I see the term Nerd changing, from a mostly negative way of describing a person into a label to wear with pride. Isn’t it cool to be a nerd? Of course! And as the ion sky fan community has proven it is easy for geeks who like this kind of movies to connect over the net .And there are a lot of them out there. So I guess we will see more movies like this. That is not the worst prospect for the future.

Here you can find the Interview with timo Vuorensola at the premiere->