Sparta

In Ulrich Seidl’s Rimini, we followed washed-up popular singer Richie Bravo. His younger brother Ewald seems to be leading a conventional life as an electronic engineer – but once he hits his 40s, he decides to change direction completely. Ewald goes to a run-down village in Transylvania, where with a group of boys – some of whom are orphans – he converts an abandoned school building into a fort. The children enjoy being outside, playing sports and working on the building. Ewald also feels liberated in the company of the children. He is a tormented man, however, as he struggles to keep his paedophile urges under control.

Controversy

The Toronto Film Festival cancelled the world première of Sparta in the wake of allegations made in German magazine Der Spiegel that Seidl had informed neither the Romanian children, nor their parents (who were present), about the film’s theme. An abuse of trust, according to Der Spiegel.

Ulrich Seidl: ”Above all, I want the viewer, after seeing one of my films, to leave the cinema a different person. I hope the films have a lasting impact. I want to unsettle the viewer, because if you are unsettled you ask questions and, ideally, questions lead to insight.“

Seidl wrote a public declaration in which he denied the accusations outright. True cinema, so wrote the director, is loyal to his oeuvre, exploring areas people consider uncomfortable, painful and ambiguous. Any moral distinction between ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ is not part of cinema’s brief, is his opinion. Watching his films is introduced to a world in which unexpressed desires, neuroses and contradictions are brought to light – going as far as the actors’ dare professionally and non-professionally.