19/02/2025 - BERLINALE 2025: Constanze Klaue inspects the rise of nationalism and xenophobia in her skilfully directed coming-of-age film

Idle hands are the devil’s plaything in Punching the World [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the debut feature by Constanze Klaue, which is part of the newly introduced Perspectives competition at the 75th Berlinale. The film is based on a popular German novel by Lukas Rietzschel, Mit der Faust in die Welt schlagen, and is set in 2006 with a 2015 epilogue.

The setting is a small town in East Germany, where work opportunities are scarce, being Sorbian (a West Slavic ethnic group) constitutes a reason for being harassed, and the word “gay” is an insult. The protagonists are teenage brothers Philip (Anton Franke) and Tobi (Camille Moltzen), and their mainly absent parents. The mother (Anja Schneider) is an overworked nurse, and the father (Christian Näthe), after losing his job, succumbs to alcoholism and has an affair.

The film starts in a somehow idyllic way – the family is moving into a new house, giving them hope for an optimistic new chapter in their lives. It’s summer, warm and sunny, and the bright outlook can’t be dimmed even by the fact that the new home doesn’t have a working toilet and there are other improvements to be made. School starts for the boys, who try to fit in and negotiate the social life; Philip gets into the good books of a local hooligan and neo-Nazi in the making, Menzel (Johannes Scheidweiler), while Tobi falls for a cheeky classmate. The warm, pastel colour palette is a form of artistic deception, as Klaue soon reveals that life in a bucolic area is not all that nice and welcoming after all. Boys, left alone by their parents and only loosely supervised by their grandparents, loiter, looking for things to do. Their mischief and pranks born of boredom and an abundance of free time are innocent – at least for now.

When Philip starts to hang out more with Menzel, it becomes clear that child’s play can easily evolve into vandalism – and, in the off-screen future, even hate crimes. The spiralling of violence and xenophobia is one of the strongest elements in Klaue’s film and makes it a cinematic cousin to The White Ribbon [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michael Haneke
film profile] by Michael Haneke. The tones and narratives of these two movies are very different, though, as Klaue focuses on following two brothers and making the narrative run smoothly.

For the most part, Punching the World is a coming-of-age story that has a US indie vibe. The director skilfully and intentionally lulls the audience into a false sense of security with the mellow tone, warm hues and suggestion that all dramas in this world will be solved painlessly. That’s the point of view of a kid, who may see some dangers or troubles out there, but for whom adolescent naivete smooths over the world’s rough edges. When the boys’ father’s troubled former colleague Uwe (Meinhard Neumann), who becomes an outcast after his Stasi past is revealed, shows up at their door, they see him, above all, as intriguing.

The social context – the past of the GDR, the scourge of unemployment and good, old-fashioned prejudice against anyone who is different – is also strong in the film. Punching the World is mature and consistent, and contrary to a feistier title, it will probably not elbow its way through the festival, but it does deserve attention. If not as a cautionary tale, then as a coming-of-age story that tells us that some childhood scars and bruises simply won’t fade away with time.

Punching the World was produced by Berlin-based Flare Film and Chromosom Film. The Yellow Affair by Newen Connect handles its world sales.