In the remote village of what used to be East Germany, Christian Alvart’s Free Country (or Freies Land) follows two detectives who are greeted by the residents with an eery silence and contempt when they’re given what seems to be a hopeless case. Two teenage girls, sisters, are missing, their safety as uncertain as to their whereabouts, but Löwitz and its residents hold their tongue, leaving the foul secrets to unravel themselves.
A village of turmoil and corruption, Löwitz doesn’t wait for the detectives to meet before letting our first, the unsuspecting Patrick, get a glimpse of exactly how things work around there. An eye-catching, but dismal aerial shot shows a landscape filled with swamps, neglected grass, and dingy trees. Distracted by his map and a packet of cigarettes, Patrick swerves past a cow on the road and into a swamp. The road sign might as well read “Do not enter: misfortune ahead.”
Patrick’s own unwelcoming arrival is also the first political metaphor, many of which scatter the rural landscape of Free Country. Set a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the German reunification, tensions are still high. Patrick, visiting from Hamburg, is the Western personification of all the former-communist Easterners desires, namely wealth. It’s only fitting that his flash Mercedes ends up in swampy waters before his job has even begun.
Not much can be said for Trystan Pütter’s (Toni Erdmann) unconvincing performance as the seemingly tough, but incredibly unlikeable Patrick Stein. A father-to-be, he at first comes across as a family man. However, between brief moments of fake heroism and cigarette breaks, cracks show in his character and his morals become questionable.
His partner, on the other hand, is more complex behind his stern demeanour. His signature moustache and sunglasses look as though they’ve been pulled straight out of a 70s cop film, going hand-in-hand with his unorthodox methods. Markus Bach, much like his case, however, is more than what he seems from the outside. Felix Kramer plays his character with such unpredictability; he’s thrilling to watch. Though usually depicted as the much more aggressive of the two, even a subtle, concerned tone can make you question everything you think about him. It’s confusing to feel unsettled by and also sympathetic towards a character, which Alvart uses to his advantage until the very end. There’s no good cop/bad cop in Free Country – only Markus.
The dynamic of the two is also one of the more confusing things about this otherwise well-written cop-thriller. What works brilliantly with duos in films such as David Fincher’s Se7en is how well the characters complement each other. Mills’ impulsive and reckless attitude and Somerset’s repressed and more practical frame of mind balance each other out and make pretty much the perfect team. Stein and Kramer are almost too similar in incompetence for this to be the case. While at first Stein may appear to be the more rational of the two (as implied by their meeting when Kramer doesn’t hesitate to restrain him with quite some force), as the film goes on, this is constantly changing. Stein will become unable to cope, Kramer will become the level-headed handler. Kramer will become unhinged; Stein will responsibly take control. The more confusing it becomes, the messier it seems.
The Verdict
Alvart creates an atmosphere in Free Country that is hauntingly lonely and unnerving. The tension between East and West Germany might be the backdrop for this gritty thriller, but in front of it are complex and broken characters that aren’t forcibly valiant, but human and therefore flawed. While not necessarily edge-of-your-seat exciting, it’s subtly sinister with an equally ominous soundtrack that lingers like the final drag of a cigarette.
Rating: 7/10
Words by Libby Briggs