User reviews

This movie is so shocking realistic. I work with kids like Benni everyday. Watch it, it will be worth it. It makes you cry, you will feel the despair of the girl and the responsible adults. The acting of the girl is outstanding.

System Crasher is an unforgiving and brutal examination of 9-year-old girl Benni, whose anger issues and past trauma hinder her from finding permanent care.

System Crasher is unforgiving because of its realism. There's no glimmer of hope. It's simply the life of a child who cannot be saved by her society. From desperate and annoyed care takers to a clueless system which fails Benni, she cannot cope with her trauma and resorts to violence and anger. Helena Zengel embodies this anger almost perfectly and manages to walk the thin line between authenticity and sympathy. You can't help but feel for her, even though she continuously screams at everyone. These screams symbolise her inner struggle and the deeply rooted pain she suffers from being abused and abanoned. With close to two hours it's a tough movie that feels longer than it is, but it's worth it and so important.

If this film is hard to stomach, or sit through, or you had to close your eyes and hold your ears through tough parts.....then this film succeeded in its main task of showcasing very real and difficult to treat psychiatric conditions. It can be a little rough to watch at times but also heart warming too so it won't be a total downer the entire time. If you find this film a worthy watch then check out 'Mommy' 2014 to see how this progresses. I rated this an 8, for good, but you'll have to see for yourself to be a fair judge.

Directress Nora Fingscheidt had previously only worked on documentaries and it shows - in a wonderful way. Best described as hyper-realistic cinema, the movie is a "slice of life" experience spanning only a few weeks of the trying life of 9-year-old girl Benni and everyone involved in it.

It is never made quite clear (at least not comprehensively) what exactly it is Benni is suffering from, but that's not essential to a non-professional audience anyway. To a layman, it appears to be a form of mental instability that requires intensive professional care and medical assistance. However, neither seems to be sufficient treatment as Benni's mood heavily fluctuates between moments of relative calmness and aggressive hypomania all throughout the movie. As a consequence, she's constantly battling social isolation and caught in between her most human need for affectionateness and her conditions disposition of pushing everyone away from her. The movie also brilliantly displays, in what I consider maybe its strongest feat, the emotional and professional hardships everyone surrounding her experiences as a result. Even today, there's very little understanding or appreciation for social work in our society, that is, labor that does not immediately generate monetary value. The movie does its part in educating the viewer, not in a condescending way but entirely through imagery. Its multifaceted approach encompasses any and all points of view, individual motivations and emotions, the eventual judgement however is left entirely up to the audience.

The acting is undoubtably meriting all the praise directed its way and then some. Flawless across the board. It wouldn't work otherwise. Helena Zengel does a magnificent job at playing Benni, surely someone to watch for the future.

Without elaborating too much, there's one peculiar cinematographic detail I'd like to mention that stood out to me: The color palette is heavy on pink, a traditionally "girly" color, that is used in most innovative ways that can be best understood if you're familiar with Julian Schnabel's At Eternity's Gate (2018). Like Schnabel, Fingscheidt uses color to further emphasize the gravitas of certain emotional situations. As opposed to "seeing red", the young girl literally sees pink in scenes of extreme anger and distress and we, as the viewer, are confronted with a bold pink overlay blocking out everything else. One cannot help but notice the (most certainly intended) irony in using a color such as pink that is associated with cuteness and innocence and turn it into what later on in the movie has conditioned the audience to expect rage fits of the worst kind.

That is not to say that the movie represents a particularly feminine point of view. The issue is, at its core, a gender neutral one.

In short, a hearty recommendation to any serious moviegoer.

I saw this at the Palm Springs Film Festival. It was so real I had to remind myself it was a theatrical film, not a documentary, when it was over. It's raw and moving, flawlessly directed, edited and above all acted. Not easy to view but so well worth it. It's been a week and I still think about it. I imagine it will be in indy theaters before long. If you get a chance and like truly unique films, go see it!

In general, the movie is good, especially the acting. But there is one problem - the movie repeats an idea and some cinematic approaches of «Mommy» (2014) made by Xavier Dolan. The main character, a girl, has similar facial features of the main character of Dolan's movie, with the only difference that Xavier's movie portrays a boy, who is a few years older. The movie repeats «Mommy» in the idea, and even the ending is the same. The ending is almost copied from «Mommy», repeating all the visual approaches. And this is the worst thing, I just don't get excited watching a movie that repeats another one in so many ways.

This movie was really impressive, especially considering that it is the director's first feature film. Helena Zengel, who plays Benni, is such an excellent actress and she can go very far as an actress if she continue in that way. Can't wait what she is doing next.

I saw the world premiere of this movie at the 69. Berlinale and I was really surprised about it. I'm so happy to see, that some rare German Directors can create much better stuff than the typical Till Schweiger comedy movies. This movie is totally different, very intensiv and emotional. I wished we will get more of this in the future.

It is a film about failure. (1) The daily failure caused by a serious mental illness (in this case, schizophrenia) (2) The failure of the human species in general - the only one whose shoots do not survive alone in any environment, even the wildest. (3) The failure of social programs in Germany, where 37 institutions refuse the patient protagonist and, at best, recommend her to go to Kenya, which eventually she will probably do. The ending is open, similarly to the end of a classic Nouvelle Vague film, Les 400 Coups, by Truffaut. (4) The failure of the school teacher, who is a professional healer for marginalized teenagers, he develops a personal liking to the girl Benni, which puts his own career at risk as he tries an alternative approach and - what is worse - he finally realizes that the disease cannot be cured . In a way, this film is comparable to "The good son" with Macaulay Culkin and Elijah Wood. The difference is, that one was a thriller - and a quite reasonable one for that matter. This one, Systemsprenger, is not a thriller. It is more semi-documentary worthy of an application among films that qualify for elective subjects within the curricula of medicine and psychology schools: (Among such films, for example, ¨In a glass darkly¨, by Ingmar Bergman; ¨Pressure point¨, by Hubert Cornfield; ¨À la la folie - pas du tout¨ by Laetitia Colombani etc. Benni has fits of angry violence. She can't control them. She wants to change her life, but she's incapable. Doctors do not succeed as well. Social workers, ditto. This is not an easy movie.

The emotional impact of the film is undeniable. It's tough to watch sometimes and I guess it was made with an honest intention. But I want to make some points from a different point of view. The film doesn't really investigate the cause of Benni's problems. It may deal with her mother or her father, with an accident from early childhood, we cannot tell. It may be a physiological, not a psychological cause, a genetic disorder for which no one is to blame. But the film is not dealing with the cause of the problem. So why people started to point the guilty ones? It was based on what they believed it's the problem, not on what it was shown in the film. Another fact is that the authorities are dealing this case as a social one. But Benni is not a kid with some problems regarding integration, Benni suffers from a very serious psychiatric desease. He almost kills several children! She has suicidal threats, she is putting herself and the others in danger without warning. And they want to find a foster parent! They are acting with good intentions, but are they idiots? Everyone is on her side, but do you let her in your home with your children? This kind of desease, so violent and at such young age, is unfortunately only for psychiatric clinics to deal. And the chance for recovery are slim, we can only contain it, but not solve it. I think a lot of people acted emotionally, but when we think a little, we discover the fact that this is a medical case, not a social one. It's easy to say 'her mother let her boyfriend Benni and then the society, the system, our indifference etc. etc.', but again we don't know this is the case and, most important, integration of a extremely violent girl in a normal family is the way to make her well?

To me, this movie was comparable in some ways to "The Good Son" from the 1990's with Macaulay Culkin and Elijah Wood. The difference between Benni and Culkin's character though is that Benni does not act out just for the thrill of it or the purpose of acting evil. She is just a girl with major mental health issues, which appear to more than likely be the result of schizophrenia. She has violent outbursts that she can't control and you can tell throughout the movie that she wants to change but is unable to do so at that stage in her life.

On top of the out of control mental outbursts, she is thrown into ever changing situations and environments that it seems would only confuse her and make her healing process more difficult. The doctors cannot seem to find the proper medication to balance her out and at one point even prescribe her a schizophrenia medication that is meant for adults, and she is only nearly 10 years old. As far as that part goes, I travelled that path myself as a child with being prescribed medication that is meant for adults at that age and it does not do your mental health any good when you are a child to take medicine that is designed for someone who's brain is further along in development.

This is a very powerful film. If you yourself have struggled with mental illness from a young age, you will probably find yourseld relating to certain aspects of this movie as I did. Its definitely worth a watch.

Unbelievable, impeccable performance by the little girl who shakes up the life and faith of many good people that genuinely want to help but are pushed to their limits. Unusual dramaturgy but realistically showing the back and forths of such an extreme case. Great camera and sound to support this excursion into the world of a lovely but hardly bearable girl who is innocent of her condition due to a failed family structure. Very moving film that raises important questions. Incredible debut work.

I'm glad I watched this movie in Hong Kong. It reminds me how I overcome my broken childhood by myself. Problem families should have more concerns and facilities for their children. Children will grow up happily and become strong adults. This's a lovely German movie. Thank you.

This story about a TS and temper tantrum ridden child meanders aimlessly, sometimes feeling like a sad slow river going nowhere but into murky waters. Film is way too long as the screenplay lacks in form and structure. Helena Zengel keeps throwing her tantrums becoming harder to watch each time while the plot becomes less than negligible. Probably this is meant to reflect the torment of Benni's soul, conveying her paradigm of everlasting desperation. Some great acting, sensitive and credible. It does not lead to dramatic solutions one way or the other though. While the absence of hope might be the sad truth for such a sad character it left me thinking why I would have myself take hostage to this abyss. For my taste the movie would have worked better if it had offered a moments of comic relief. Benni's mother and siblings live in an apartment that feels like a posh IKEA showroom, kind of killing the overall suspense of disbelief for me.

Somehow I felt bad for the child actress and the ordeal she was going through for what I usually expect to be my entertainment. This might not be your cup of tea when sitting down with a cup of popcorn for an evening of fun. Go see it if you are thinking about working in specialized child care.

Between an adult and a child the fault at the end is always of the ADULT. Remember that.

All that she was asking for was... Love.

This is a very hard film to watch. young lady is an amazing talent. she is 10 times better than anna kendrick+amy schumer+justin long+kristen stewart put all together... what an amazing director to get something out of this young and talented actress. everything is phenomenal about this movie... strongly recommended...

The story is so excellent, so real. I was skeptic all at first, thinking that the movie might over-antagonize Benni, making her far too manic to root for. But the way the film clearly illustrates why she's acting out allows for her extreme reactions to seem real and makes the audience empathize with her. This actress embodies the character so well and brings out many subtle nuances that make the character feel loveable rather than unrelateable. However, a movie with no real satisfying ending leaves me wishing I hadn't rooted for her, I was watching in anticipation, waiting to see what would happen and when the answer is nothing (or that it's left to my imagination) I feel so unsatisfied and empty. That would be like leaving a review that wasn't

Some things are tough to rate and watch. Seeing a troubled teen, who especially at the beginning but generally speaking is cursing a lot and does things that I would consider rude to put it mildly, is not an easy thing to do. But if you can overlook that harsh "reality" and get a sense of the underlying theme and criticism the movie gives us, you will find a lot of things to like.

Still this is anything but an easy watch, no matter what you think of our main character. It also is quite the example of overall good acting in a german movie. A couple of smaller roles excluded this is top notch and feels as real as it can be. If you are up for the challenge go ahead, but you've been warned. This is not a feel good movie as you can tell right from the very start