SYSTEM CRASHER: Broken Hearts & Broken Jaws

From writer-director Nora Fingscheidt comes System Crasher, an in-depth exploration of one wild little girl’s attempt to find a loving home, which was named Germany’s submission for Best International Feature at this year’s Academy Awards. While it didn’t end up making the shortlist, you shouldn’t let the blinders, known as “Oscar Mania,” keep you from checking it out whenever it hits cinemas in your town. With a breathtaking performance from Helena Zengel as its beating, battered heart, System Crasher examines the lasting effects of childhood trauma on one very special girl and it questions whether some wounds can ever truly heal.

Rebel Girl

The first thing one notices about nine-year-old Benni (Zengel) is her size. When we are first introduced to her, she is hooked up to a multitude of electrodes that overwhelm her tiny torso. The camera lingers on her little stockinged feet, so small that they verge on the pathetic. She’s a wisp of a girl, and with her translucent white skin and pale blonde hair, she could almost be mistaken for a ghost.

Yet Benni is all too real, and what her body lacks in size it makes up for in pure unbridled fury. Benni is what is known in the world of child services as a “system crasher.” Suffering from deep-seated childhood trauma that manifests itself in a violent temper, she has been kicked out of one group home after another for her bad behavior. All Benni wants is to live with her mother (Lisa Hagmeister) and two young siblings again, but her mother is incapable of holding down a job and is constantly cycling through a series of questionable boyfriends.

(It is implied that abuse early on, from one of these boyfriends, is the root of Benni’s trauma, the lasting effect of which is that only Benni’s mother is allowed to touch her face, or else Benni will erupt in a screaming and kicking rage.) It doesn’t help that Benni’s mother is also afraid of her daughter and, despite loving her, isn’t jumping at the opportunity to take her back.

Benni’s deeply sympathetic caseworker, Mrs. Bafané (Gabriela Maria Schmeide), tirelessly works to find a permanent home for Benni so that she can finally begin the PTSD treatment she so desperately needs, but she has little luck. Things begin to finally turn around for Benni when she meets Micha (Albrecht Schuch), a tough-loving young man who had a troubled youth himself before devoting his life to mentoring others. Micha mostly works with teenage boys, so dealing with a little spitfire like Benni is both entirely within his power and yet also more terrifying than any task he has taken on before.

Benni is a Punk

Micha works wonders with Benni, taking her to a remote cabin in the woods where he helps her redirect her endless energy into chopping wood and milking cows. Yet Micha’s attempts to heal Benni’s wounds only skim the surface; her scars are far deeper and require far more intense therapy in order to be healed — if that is even possible.

System Crasher seems to suggest that some children might be beyond healing and that even the most devoted individuals working within the most carefully calibrated systems can’t “fix” a broken soul like Benni. It’s a decidedly bleak message to take away from a film, especially a film about a child who has so much more life ahead of her. System Crasher asks us to ponder what kind of adult life awaits someone whose childhood was effectively snatched away and doesn’t provide any easy answers.

For a first feature, Fingscheidt shows a natural talent for getting the very best and most vulnerable performances from her actors. It is hard to imagine a film so focused on the inner workings of a child being so effective without the perfect child at its center. Zengel is, in a word, marvelous. Her performance is so all-encompassing that you are convinced you are watching Benni play herself. Zengel brings a boldness and a confidence to Benni that make her an admirable creature even in her most upsetting moments, whether she is spewing profanities at her teachers or trying to beat the living daylights out of another child.

When Benni slouches in a chair with a lollipop stick hanging out of her mouth, listlessly listening to yet another group home announce they are throwing her out, one is reminded less of other children and more of the hardened gangsters who populate The Irishman. And yet, when Micha takes Benni into the woods and she screams “MAMA!” repeatedly into an empty echoing canyon, one is reminded that behind the tough facade Benni is, at her heart, just a little girl who needs to be cared for. For someone as young as Zengel to be able to embody all of these contradictions so realistically that you feel as though you are watching a documentary is a sign that you’re watching a star being born.

Smash It Up

The other actors surrounding Zengel also give praiseworthy performances. As Micha, Schuch does an admirable job at highlighting the complex emotions that go hand in hand with working with troubled children. Micha isn’t a saint; he makes mistakes and allows himself to get too personally attached to Benni, which has repercussions for everyone involved in her situation. Yet that’s just one of the many reasons why he is such an empathetic character.

As Mrs. Bafané, Schmeide is responsible for the film’s most heartbreaking moment. About to break bad news to a hopeful and excited Benni, Mrs. Bafané finds herself unable to find the right words and sinks to the floor in tears. She is so distressed on Benni’s behalf that she ends up being comforted by the little girl to whom she has devoted so much time and energy, instead of the other way around. It’s a beautiful scene that pays tribute to the adults who devote their lives to such emotionally backbreaking work.

The film’s candy-colored palette, shot through with splashes of bright pink that match Benni’s signature jacket, gives System Crasher a vibe that is simultaneously childlike and punk rock, which not only keeps the film from feeling too dour in its more depressing moments but also absolutely suits Benni.

Fingscheidt illustrates Benni’s breakdowns with abstract bursts of color and noise that are so anxiety-inducing that you too feel as though you’re about to explode. This imagery, paired with John Gürtler’s intense score and, of course, Zengel’s performance, creates an onscreen manifestation of emotional damage unlike any other. As a result, System Crasher rings true even if Benni’s particular experiences are unlike anything you have been through.

Conclusion: System Crasher

A story of heartbreak bandaged up by rebellion, System Crasher will wrench your heart out of your chest and stomp all over it. As you can imagine, it’s a painful experience, but one that offers just as many rewards as it does tears.

What do you think? Have you watched any other German films this year? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

System Crasher screened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York on December 13, 2019. You can find more international release dates here.