Suicide (2001)

This really was not a nice film. The story behind it is rubbish and the images in the film are not that brutal but the overall idea is truly brutal and shocking. Some scenes are really hard to handle. This comes about from the amateurish realism of the way that the film is shot. But this is also its major let-down – it is too amateurish. Not a very original idea and there is almost no production value this film gets its shock value from the brutal yet non-graphic death scenes. It is hard to think how anyone survived this film. Not a nice film at all.

"FinalCut.com" is a German 85-minute film from 2001, so this one had its 15th anniversary already last year. It is apparently the only career effort by writer and director Yvonne Wunschel, but her co-director managed to keep going with a solid small screen career and is still working in the industry today, such a long time later. Anyway, the alternate title "Selbstmörder" already gives away the center of this film, namely people killing themselves. Or really it is about those people who offer to film them while they do it. So in this fictitious movie we get to see many people who commit suicide. And in-between these scenes we see the characters who film them interact. This one looks truly amateurish and especially with such a difficult and complex subject, you really need talent and some kind of aesthetic and tasteful execution. This film offers none of that and that's what sinks it eventually. The actors also weren't particularly good for the most part and I am not surprised to see that almost none of them are enjoying careers today. I did not expect a lot from this film to be honest, but the eventual outcome was even considerably worse than I expected. I highly recommend to stay away and watch something else instead like, if we are talking about the subject, the German movie "Suciide Club" (2010), which turned out much better.

Raoul W. Heimrichs film "Finalcut.com" (2001) shows different people trying to commit suicide in different ways. A man who is determined to precipitate himself from a high building is unable to do it in the last moment. He calls himself a coward and asks for help. The question arises if these people who are unable to perform their chosen form of suicide act cowardly or not. First, in Germany and in most parts of Europe, people do not have the choice of shooting themselves. Therefore, they have to come up with strange ways to fulfill their desire, they cannot really choose. Not everybody is the type to jump from an altitude. Not everybody has the possibility to get a painless and quickly working poison. Not everybody knows that it is sufficient to chew half a pack of cigarettes. The girls who are portrayed in this film do not know, that they should have swallowed tablets against sea-sickness, that would have prevented them from throwing up, before they swallowed Valium together with Vodka.In short, failed suicides have at least two reasons: The unavailability of the way of going out of this life that fits to the respective type of person, and the lack of knowledge how to perform this action successfully. One man who is lethally sick from cancer suggests in the movie that there should be hospitals prepared for people who want to end their lives. As a matter of fact, there are none in Europe, and active euthanasia is prohibited by law (and passive euthanasia in several countries as well). From an ethic standpoints for humans and not for an abstract and unknown "god", it is not understandable that such institutions do not exist. Every child has to go almost twenty years through education in order to be ready to cope with the problems of everyday life. But nobody teaches adults even for twenty minutes what is to do if somebody cannot or does not want to go on living anymore. The results of this deplorable lack of information are lifetime invalids, crippled limbs, brain damages, visible cord-marks around the neck, scars around the wrists, etc. Everything concerning death, and not only suicide, is still tabooed, on both sides of the Ocean, and as far as I know on all five continents. The same people who have no problems to set children in this world do not even come to the idea that not everybody fits into this world. However, if they must or want to stop living, they are let alone. This movie should be shown and discussed in the schools around the globe.

Invariably, this film will be compared to other "mockumentary" and fake-snuff films such as the AUGUST UNDERGROUND films, MAN BITES DOG, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, THE LAST HORROR MOVIE, and Tamakichi Anaru's PSYCHO: THE SNUFF REELS and SUICIDE DOLLS - but what SUICIDE (aka FINALCUT.COM) has that these others lack, is ABSOLUTE REALISM. There's a lot that goes on in this SOV mini-masterpiece, but one thing is certain - IT FEELS REAL...There's a lot going on under the surface of this film, but the basic concept is about a couple who offer their "services" to tape the last moments of willing participants who are going to commit suicide. From what I gathered (and I can't really be positive about this due to the ambiguous nature of the film - but a certain "deleted scene" seems to confirm my suspicions...), the first several suicides are staged to "drum-up" business for their website which is offering this unique service, which it is implied that the couple are doing to sell for media attention. But once the business starts rolling in, they take part, at least in the filming - and sometimes more - of these individual's last moments...I've watched a lot of this sort of thing, and SUICIDE is the most realistic of the bunch. I can't say that it's an enjoyable film, but I give SUICIDE such a high rating because it is exactly what it is meant to be - a sick take on the reality film/TV craze and it's ever-increasing play on "shock value". It also shows how something that could be considered an "innocent" concept can quickly escalate into an uncontrollable situation (which is best noted in the last two segments).The performances of the suicide participants are all so visceral and real, and so well staged, that you really can get sucked into the notion that this is the real thing (even the ones that I believe were purposely staged). Some of the characters choose to explain why they've decided to end their lives - some don't. There's very little "filler" so each participant's story is interesting in it's own right and the film as a whole moves along at a fairly brisk pace. The whole film is handled as if the audience were right there witnessing these acts. There isn't an over-abundance of theatrics or gore, which makes the scenes that much more believable, and there is such a variety of acts and reasons portrayed, and they're all done so realistically, that the film never gets boring or tedious.SUICIDE got to me on a level that few films do. I think that above all, the actors should be applauded for the commitment level and the realism-factor that is brought to the table in their respective roles. Nothing about SUICIDE comes off as forced or phony, it just is what it is. And for once (and only once...) I actually feel that the down-playing of gore and sleaze made this film stand out amongst all others of it's genre. Definitely a challenging and "disturbing" film - so mainstream horror-goers may as well pass this one by...but for those that truly appreciate subversive and thought-provoking cinema - this ones for you...9/10