In  which Stephanie Reviews a Film from Notmerica

Germany’s

Run Lola Run

Released in 1998, Run Lola Run is arguably the most popular and recognizable German film in the United States. It tells the story of Lola, a free spirited woman who has to raise 100,000 Deutschmarks in 20 minutes to save her small-time criminal boyfriend, Manni, from a big time crime boss who will totally shoot Manni in the head if he doesn’t get his money. The film cycles three different runs of possible outcomes and grapples with concepts of determinism and free will as Lola races against the clock to save her man.
…But before I start talking about what I believe the philosophy of this movie is, I want to share the most interesting thing I ever learned about the German people: Germans don’t laugh when they feel awkward. Seem innocuous? Think about how common it is in America. You’re out to dinner with your girlfriend and, oops! “Hahaha, I think I left my wallet at home.” This isn’t remotely funny, but we laugh anyway. This is a daily occurrence here in America, but something the Germans just don’t understand. In fact, it is a source of much confusion for Germans in America, who think Americans laugh maniacally for no damn reason. An American who hears someone laughing when they say, “I think I’m lost!” would understand the social cue, but a German person wouldn’t get the joke and think that stranger’s brain was melting. In Germany, laughter is only reserved for shit that is, you know, funny.

This says a lot about the way Germans regard awkward, uncomfortable, or just plain shitty situations. They are dealt with in a dry, matter of fact kind of way that isn’t reflected back on the self. That awkward laughter is a way of telling the world, “This situation is uncomfortable and people need to know I feel weird about it.” Germans are often seen as very serious, very stern people because of their reluctance to smile, but I wonder how much of that is owed to the fact that German people deal with the events as they are presented in a dry, super straight-forward, matter-of-fact manner.
…And it is out of this national worldview that a film like Run, Lola, Run emerges. Time is a huge theme in this film, (there are many clocks shown throughout the movie, Manni’s “time” runs out on his phone card, the whole movie is a countdown.) Since time is the conduit through which we human beings experience and make sense of the events of our lives, we can see a kind of nihilistic pattern emerging as the movies runs through these three separate–let’s call them–inevitabilites.  Lola has this intense drive and purpose throughout the film, yet 2/3 of the time she is unable to affect the kind of change she needs to see happen to meet her goal, but during the last run, with the help of serendipity and her ability to manipulate fate with her mega-scream, she finally reaches her goal in a timely manner. But by then it doesn’t even matter, things would have worked themselves out whether or not she had even known what was going on at all. Things either seemed to end in tragedy or a pointlessly manic waste of time.

Sadness is a futility, kitty.

The message this movie sends is that there is no meaning outside of basic cause and effect no matter how driven or purposeful we think our mission in life is. Throughout Lola’s Run, she bumps into different characters who’s futures are told quickly through a series of pictures, and in each run these futures are wildly different based on absolute minutia. This has large implications about the nature of fate, it’s randomness and lack of overall purpose. We are all just a heap of molecules and chemical reactions slamming into one another and altering one other’s courses.
Now, if you were to judge this movie based simply on this article, you might think it’s a downer, but it isn’t. Like German chocolate, it’s dark and sweet. It’s a short, thrilling movie (clocking in at just over 1:15:00) with the ability to slow down and zoom in so the audience doesn’t get left behind its fast pace. Lola is played by The Borne Identity’s Franka Potente who adds a layer of complexity to the character that is bold and vulnerable at the same time. There is complexity to this film that begs questions and inspires discussion. One I can’t get over: does each run exist in its own universe or does it all happen in the same universe and Lola just keeps running until she gets it right? You be the judges.
Next Week: Y Tu Mamá También

Kisses,

Stephanie Rose