Dream– Escape - Change

Christian Wagner on the making of the movie.

When I received yet another letter from him, which, in part, resembled all his previous ones, constantly centering around the same topics, I dragged out the whole pile and spent one afternoon re-reading them. Only then I did realize that his letters were in fact not all alike despite him dealing with certain recurring matters. For all his statements and phrases each subsequent letter revealed one further piece of mosaic.
An entirely new and extended picture of a person was emerging before my eyes, striking by its overwhelming power and emotional simplicity. His three attempts to escape from prison remained imprinted in my mind, escape in all its variants being a topic I was concerned with myself and which I consider one of the crucial problems of our times. Therefor I decided to filter one small fragment of reality in using one specific, well-researched and true story: contemplation on the chances of breaking out in general, exemplified by the story of a young convict. This short span of Franz's life is to be representative of the wider context ‘dream – escape – change’ rather than standing as an arbitrary piece of reality that happened to be filmed as a documentary.
This film uses the language of black and white photography and the poetry that is cited. Achieving authenticy by simply reconstructing lines of action, background and story developments seemed inadequate. Above anything else I aimed for an emotional plane, for feelings to be evoked among the audience directly linked to their own individual lives and experiences. There is no doubt about the rationale behind a facts-and-figures-based approach to problems in our society. Yet I find it increasingly important to grapple with particularly those problems on an emotional level that neither directly concern us nor touch us in any way. This necessity is even more evident in the light of growing anonymity and the destruction of proven ways of co-existence among people.

There is some distinct analogy between our dreams and those of a young convict in prison: overcoming conditions which paralyse and prevent us from living our dreams; perhaps also the underlying hope that things might improve, albeit that time and circumstances speak against it; finding away out of the misery surrounding us.
During the long process of implementing this project I had many doubts as to my qualifications for dealing with such complex matters, especially with the limited funds available. Given adequate financial means, enough time, and even the best of circumstances - I still believe that some facets of these questions would remain unfathomable. Perhaps there are questions one will never be able to answer completely, cropping up all through our lives, from which one cannot escape. Like Franz: by escaping from prison and stealing a scooter he gets himself deeper and deeper into labyrinths and hostile jungles.
To me one of the most beautiful scenes in this film shows Franz and Andrea in a wrecked Mercedes, rusting away on a derelict construction site. Franz answers Andrea's questions about his feelings and desires; his fingers, however, are writing a different story on the front window. Nervously he draws lines - haphazardly it seems - which then take the distinct shape of a labyrinth. At the end of his quiet, broken flow of words he wipes out these hierogliphics of his sub-conscience with a brisk movement of his hand. Then the barriers between him and the camera, between Franz and the audience, too, may be wiped out for good.