The bassist of the German band Die Ärzte sings “Having fun can be pretty extreme” in the closing credits of the film. This line couldn’t better summarise the comedy with the wheelchair trio Valentin (Joel Basman), Titus (Bastian Wurbs) and Lukas (Nikki Rappi). With their refreshing and provocative film the German-Swiss duo Stefan Hillebrand and Oliver Paulus challenge typical responses to persons with disabilities. The background story is told in just a couple of scenes. The daredevil Valentin is paralysed from the waist down after a snowboarding accident and is sent to participate in a theatre project for people with disabilities by his guilt-ridden mother. He doesn’t make the work of his social worker (Isolde Fischer) any easier after he falls in love with his caretaker Mira (Anna Unterberger) and finds willing allies in his roommates Titus und Lukas for his plan: He wants to rob the gas station where Mira’s boyfriend Marc works (Ricardo Angelini). The filmmakers are able to generate immediate empathy with the film’s characters and thus avoid the danger of slipping into sentimentality. Almost incidentally the film VIELEN DANK FÜR NICHTS deals with topics such as mobility, physicality, and communication, but it’s mainly a film about friendship and the wonderful enthusiasm of youth.

Jens Mayer