Hivos Tiger Awards Competition review - PARABELLUM by Lukas Valenta Rinner

The middle class prepares for the end of the world in Lukas Valenta Rinner's ingenious deadpan comedy Parabellum, which had its world premiere in the Hivos Tiger Awards Competition of the 44th International Film Festival Rotterdam.
 
Anyone looking for a comedy that is physical in nature, essentially minimalistic in narrative as well as being a fascinating examination and satirical take on modern world fixations and need of escapism can do far worse than look for it in Lukas Valenta Rinner's exciting fiction feature debut Parabellum. This is quite a clever film that manages to mix beautiful argentinian settings with a Northern European filmmaking style of static cinematography that mercilessly looks upon its quasi-pietous characters, a style that can be identified in Rinner's own Austrian roots. 

 

The premise is quite simple, and in itself represents a theme that has become a cinematic fascination as of late - the end of the world, the apocalypse. Yet, this is certainly a different take on it. Let us consider for a moment how many Hollywood blockbusters, for instance, thrive on it and end up representing it in a mostly repetitive and structured way. Let us also consider what an impending subject it has been on he god fearing newscasts, and how prominent it has shown on blogs and viral videos.
 
Well, in Parabellum, the narrative revolves around a group of bored members of the middle class seeking escapism in a camp that aims to teach them how to survive the impending apocalypse. The theme is naturally conveyed by the environmental and natural beauty of the South American greens, waters and hills out of which one can experience a primordial calling that provides a further deepeining of the apocalyptic subject.
 
The style in which he films the actions, most of which are physical, is unmerciful and blunt in revealing the naturally comedic side of the concept of what is essentially a holiday camp for people lacking excitement in their repetitive lives. Therefore, the physical humour is accentuated, but never overplayed, therefore never in turn concealing what is also an observation the sad nature of the times we live in because of its genuineness and a type of realism (and delusional escapism) that constantly shapes the on screen action.