the unbearable noise
by Douglas Messerli
Ron Jäger (screenwriter
and director) Inseln (Islands) / 2018 [20 minutes]
German director Ron Jäger’s Islands is
an odd work in that it begins seemingly as another short film about gay abuse
in the locker rooms regarding a hidden relationship between two school
athletes, and then suddenly shifts entirely into another genre which is far
less common, a kind of inter-generational exploration of shared emotional
histories.
Meanwhile, in the locker room Theo (Julian Mannebach) is cornered by the
class bully Fabian (Marius Rohmann), preparing to beat him for his “interfering
with a relationship,” evidently a heterosexual one, between Linus (Lennart
Hillmann) and his girlfriend.
What
is apparent, of course, is that there is also a sexual relationship between
Linus and Theo, and that somehow word of their secret friendship has gotten out
to the girlfriend who has accused Theo of harassment, perhaps in hopes of
keeping Linus close to her. Fabian hits Theo several times, but insists that
Linus, standing by, also join in on the attack which he refuses to do, in
result of which Fabi declares: “Thought I knew who you were. I’ve no idea what
she sees in you.”
In
retaliation for their locker room battles, the P.E. teacher sentences the
entire team to a more than usual thorough workout, and finally, in an almost
surreal manner which permits some of the boys to whisper that the coach has
finally lost his mind, takes out a puppet which delivers his commands. Even
Theo giggles at the “sweat or die” “gymology” declared by the puppet, Sergeant
Buttercup.
After class, we see Theo back in the locker room retrieving his backpack
and, in particular, his drawing book which has been the subject for further
derision from the boys and been inspected by
But
Theo pulls back. “You told her. Why would do that?” Linus begins with what
appears to be a kind of breakthrough, declaring that he felt that there could
be “no other way,” suggesting that he might be ready to come out. But as he
holds his hands to Theo’s face with deep love, he suddenly runs off, insisting
“I can’t do this anymore.”
The
coach returns to the locker room to discover Theo lying on the bench in near
utter despair having been beaten for being gay and lost his lover in the
process. We recognize the situation as being so severe that we are not
surprised a few moments later that this 17-year-old boy is near suicide. As he
admits to Krüger: “Everybody hates me. Probably be
better if I just killed myself.”
And it is here will the film shifts, the coach
arguing that he should never say that, even as a joke, as he sits down to quote
a poem, but not the one you might be expecting, given the first line: “Every
man is an island. Only words can connect them.”
And it is clearly a time for words as Krüger seeks out the boy’s real
problems beyond his budding relationship that has just apparently failed. “Is
it because of the others?” he prods Theo, who responds immediately, “No.” He
tells the story of his endlessly arguing parents, how the constant fights have
affected him; “It’s an unbearable noise.” And he describes how one day his
father wanted to show him how to fill-up the car, taking him to a service
station. He gave his son the money, and Theo went in to pay, but when he came
back his father had gone. “That was the last time I saw him.” Without his fully
perceiving it, what Theo actually demonstrates to us is that the most
unbearable noise is not the fights he has endured but the silence that has
occurred ever since.
It
is now time for the coach to tell his own story. He tells Theo that he reminds him
of someone, someone very special. “He also liked to draw. One day, he simply
disappeared.” The stuffed animal, we learn, was his. He had it until he was 15,
keeping it, so he said, for a school project—obviously a bluff to cover his own
love of his childhood toy. “And then he left it to me. I think we didn’t want
me to be lonely.”
Theo realizes perhaps that it now is his turn to provide some comfort to
the older man, as he pulls out his drawing book, and shares his drawings,
particularly those of the teacher himself. “I believe in way, we are somehow
alike,” comments the boy to the man. These two islands have indeed connected
through language.
One fears that, indeed, that the elder might wish to express that
connection in an inappropriate manner, and indeed writer/director Jäger seems
to fear that as well, leading him to dictate words for Krüger
that immediately send the boy off into the better future that he imagines
for him. “Why sit here with me. Go off to new adventures.” Theo puts out his
hand to shake, the coach assuring him “It’s gonna be fine.”
Theo leaves. And Krüger, tears welling in his eyes, tries again to make
his cellphone call which no one answers.
We
can only wonder, was it a son whom he could not accept who ran away from home
in despair? Had he abused the boy? What happened between the 15-year-old and
the man who still has the boy’s beloved stuffed animal with him every day as
remembrance? Every man is an island until he reveals himself through language,
and we wish for more of what the film has just begun to tell us.
This film was later combined with three other sports-oriented gay
stories in a DVD release titled The Male Gaze: Strikers & Defenders (2020).
Los Angeles, March 4, 2023
Reprinted from World Cinema Review (March
2023).
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