"Headache" is a pedophile-themed German film, not many people have seen it in the mainland, and the Douban label is less than 3,000 people. The film's entry perspective is relatively unique, and the emotional expression is also very objective and calm, which is very worth watching.
Douban score: 7.5
IMDB score: 7.0
Carp score: 8.0
Headache Kopfplatzen (2019)
Director: Savvas Zevis
Writers: Savvas Zevis
Starring: Max Remet / Oscar Nisser / Isabelle Gerszke / Louis Hayer
Genre: Drama
Country of Production: Germany
Language: German
Release Date: 2019-10-18 (São Paulo International Film Festival) / 2020-04-02 (Germany)
Runtime: 99 minutes
Also known as: Head Burst
IMDb link: tt8603122
Key highlights
Desire and reason
pedophilia
The confusion of human nature
Marcus (Max Remet), 29, is a young architect with a successful career, a well-educated, stable income, handsome looks, and a healthy physique.
Beneath the glossy surface, Marcus has an unspeakable secret. He only has a strong desire for underage boys, and he clearly knows that he is a pedophile.
Marcus's actor, Max Remet, should be familiar to friends who have seen 2013's "FreeFall", in which Marx Remet's superb acting skills have left a deep impression on the audience.
Marcus was both confused and terrified of this desire.
He tried his best to suppress this abnormal desire, but he still couldn't help but secretly take pictures of the little boy, and then stare at the photos to vent himself.
Marcus tried to expend excess energy with intense exercise, thus restraining the evil thoughts in his heart.
Unfortunately, the desire in his heart became more and more difficult to control, and even after encountering a little boy, the heartbroken Marcus began to follow the boy.
Thanks to the young boy's buddy, Marcus did not completely lose control.
To Marcus's surprise, a single mother and son, Jessica, and son Arthur, moved in next door to his house.
Arthur was the boy he had stalked.
Marcus could not suppress the urge to approach Arthur, and often helped Jessica's mother and son in life.
Jessica has a crush on Marcus, and Arthur's dependence on Marcus fills the emotional gap of lack of paternal love since childhood.
Marcus gradually assumed the role of father and friend in Arthur's life, while also suffering from the headache of trying to suppress the fire.
Jessica mistakenly believes that Marcus is pursuing herself and naturally comes together with Marcus.
The movie looks like "Lolita", a man sleeps in his mother's bed, but what he wants to possess is his mother's child. The direction of the plot after the movie is very different from "Lolita".
Personally, my feelings about pedophilia are far stronger than disgust, and should be more appropriately defined by hatred. I think this so-called "love" is nothing more than a sophistry about bestiality, and love cannot be an excuse for hurt.
For children, sex is completely ignorant and unclear, so the relationship between adults and children is not equal, and any way to have a relationship with minors is just hurt without love.
Recent hot cases have once again brought this topic into the public eye, and I personally judge that in the end, the lawyer who wants to raise girls as wives will be difficult to punish at the legal level.
First of all, there are many loopholes in the current law of our country in this regard. The crime of prostituting underage girls was not removed until the Criminal Law Amendment IX, which came into effect on November 1, 2015, and other details can be imagined.
Secondly, the lawyer involved in the case must have studied the loopholes in our law in detail, and even retained the evidence in advance for future incidents.
Instead of arguing whether their children are with their father's surname or their mother's surname, and protecting their children from infringement, the revision of relevant laws is more important and urgent.
The age of sexual consent in the current law of our country is 14 years old, in other words, sexual activity with a minor under this age, whether the minor agrees or not, is a crime.
This is also the lawyer mentioned above that he waits for the girl to turn 14 years old before having a relationship with her, he understands the law, he is a professional, and everything is prepared.
The main reason for the definition at the age of 14 is that it comes from the physiological maturity age of the person, but the definition of this point in time completely ignores the psychological maturity age of minors.
Ignorance seems to understand the basic situation of children of this age in our country, and then think further, if like this movie, Marcus likes boys, fourteen-year-old boys can know their sexual orientation? If the 14-year-old boy himself is not clear, what else to talk about voluntariness and consent.
In 2018, the American documentary female director Jennifer Fox, the self-written and self-directed autobiographical film "Letterhead Story" is more convincing on this issue, and Janet Fen Fox tells the audience with personal experience that most children will mistake sexual assault and sexual exploitation for love.
I personally think that 14-year-olds can neither really understand what love is nor what sex is.
Recently, I feel that feminism has become a sensitive and sharp topic on the Internet, and I am not a supporter or opponent of feminism, but I am a sympathetic bystander. I have always felt that changing the status quo of the existing patriarchal society should start with the materialization, oppression, and exploitation of women, and start with the self-awakening of women.
Personally, I feel that there are loopholes in the law in our country at this stage, and I support the revision of the law and the setting of the age of sexual consent above the age of fourteen. Even feel that the age gap between the two parties to the sexual relationship is too large, should raise the age of sexual consent again, young boys and girls taste the forbidden fruit for the first time is one thing, the old scheming and coercion are completely another thing.
Another thing in this movie that I've been thinking about for a long time is the above paragraph, a dialogue between Marcus and a psychologist.
Not to mention a 14-year-old, an adult like me who doesn't have psychological expertise, can't be sure if the above is correct. But one of the things I agree with is that pedophilia is definitely a mental illness.
In François OuJong's self-written and self-directed "Thank God" in 2018, the pedophile priest also cried and said that everything was because he was sick.
As I said before, I hated pedophilia to the point where I didn't have the slightest compassion for the priest when I watched Thank God. This time "Headache" is different, I can feel Marcus's restraint and struggle, and I have compassion for Marcus.
Since it is a disease, the patient should be treated and helped, and should not wait until he is sick to hurt others before punishing him. Our present disregard for the disease is both cruel to later victims and cruelty to perpetrators.
Waiting for the knowledge that evil will happen and doing nothing can be regarded as an accomplice.
In the past few days, I have seen several vicious cases of people released from prison for sexual crimes, and once again painfully killed killers. I have also seen many related statistics many times before, and the proportion of repeated sexual crimes is much higher than that of other crimes.
I personally feel that not only is it a pedophile, all sexual crimes are related to psychological problems, which is a very beautiful thing for two people to be happy with each other, and people who can only get excited through crime should be a little sick.
Then for a person released from prison for a sexual offence, he has only been punished at the legal level, and our current judicial system does not assess whether he or she has recovered from mental illness. If, as the movie says, this disease cannot be cured for a lifetime, it is a high probability event to let these people return to society without restraint, hurt others and put themselves on the road of no return.
In order to be responsible for these releasers themselves, and for future innocent potential victims, it is necessary to take the necessary measures to restrain the release of sexual crimes.
I am not in favor of chemical castration, which is based on the consideration of these mental illnesses as incurable.
I agree with the South Koreans' practice of forcing the wearing of electronic ankle rings on sexual offenders, a measure that could avoid many tragedies.
It is the beast whose behavior is completely driven by desire, and it is a "man" who restrains his desires from harming others.