Schoolgirl Report 3 (3½ Stars)

While the first two films attempt to maintain an image of serious reporting, the third film crosses the line into exploitation cinema. It opens with Friedrich von Thun standing in front of the camera with the now obligatory introduction speech: "Ladies and gentlemen, you already know me if you are one of the 10 million viewers who watched the first two parts of the Schoolgirl Report. You must be asking what we can offer you in a third part. You will see that the following facts are new and even more shocking. Judge for yourselves." In the rest of the film Mr. von Thun, who later went on to appear in such films as "Schindler's List", only appears as a live interviewer on the streets of Hamburg.

This time there are no parents, teachers or psychologists to discuss what is happening. After the introduction we see a group of children, supposedly 15 to 18, arrive at a YMCA hostel. First they run to the nearby lake to bathe nude, where they're observed by Rosl Mayr, the grand old lady of German sex comedy, who gabbles away in her strong Bavarian accent. After lights out the girls and boys run into one another's rooms to have sex, where they're discovered by the hostel's owner. The following morning the girls sit outside talking about incidents from their lives, which forms the film's frame as the girls take turns. The girls repeatedly accuse one another of inventing stories, but the narrator insists that it is completely true. In the words of Friedrich von Thun, "Judge for yourselves".

The first scene is the hardest, and has been omitted from the German DVD release, even though it was on the VCR release and can still be found in the Austrian DVD edition. A 14-year-old girl is raped in the school toilets. The school caretaker finds her and promises to help her if she agrees to have sex with friends of his for money. The voice-over informs us that it is modern society that forces young girls into prostitution. That helps to put things right for any viewers who might be naive enough to blame the caretaker.

The next scene, while slightly amusing, also stretches the credibility gap. A teacher is shown groping the breasts of young schoolgirls during lessons, with the excuse of showing the difference between cotton and synthetic materials. When the teacher is taken to court the girls refuse to testify because he's such a sweet man. They sit together telling each other how he invited them home to give them their first sexual experiences. (This is the only frame within a frame in this film). The only girl who speaks out is one who was jealous because he only groped the others.

Next come two cases of incest. In the first a 15-year-old girl wants to have sex with her 10-year-old brother, but is interrupted by her father. The father hits her while the voice-over intones that the father is acting wrong, he should try to understand instead of punish. In the second case another 15-year-old finds her father having sex with a stranger while her mother is in hospital. She sees this as a threat to the family and offers to have sex with him herself to hold the family together.

In the next story a girl, again 15, seduces the father of a boy in her class. She has an affair with him based on sex alone. Amusingly, she calls him "little doctor" ("Doktorchen") as she demands sex again and again. When the affair becomes public she accuses him of rape in court. The voice-over quotes statistics to inform us that almost all cases of men raping underage girls are unjust, because the girls are the ones who want it.

Next comes the main comedy relief of the film. A girl who lives in a school (the caretaker's daughter) takes a boy into the headmaster's office late at night to have sex with him. Before they can start they hear a noise and want to hide in the closet, but when they open it they find the headmaster and one of the teachers already naked and hiding. Then in walks the headmaster's wife accompanied by the caretaker, presumably ready for sex as well. They chase one another round the room like in the British farces of the 1960's. Fun. This is also the third and last appearance of comedy actor Michael Schreiner, pictured above, who has gone on to become a major star in German film and television.

Back to serious matters: in the next scene a young couple go to Munich's Oktoberfest. After a ride on the ferris wheel they find a quiet corner where they can have sex. An older man arrives who shoots and kills the boy while they are in the act. He them takes the girl to a cellar to rape her. And the omniscient voice-over explains that this is all the fault of the parents for letting their children go out alone after dark.

The voice-over continues by quoting Valerie Solanas' SCUM Manifesto. Or rather misquoting. He says that today's schoolgirls carry with them a copy of Solanas' Manifesto in which they're told to use men as sexual objects for their own gratification. As someone who has read the Manifesto many times I can guarantee you that nothing vaguely like this is in it.

And to end up a romantic story. A poor boy is in love with a rich girl. The girl's father, a factory owner, forbids them to see one another. So they meet in secret and decide to carry out a suicide pact. Will there be a happy ending? I can't give everything away, can I?

This is probably the weakest of the whole series of 13 films. The lack of plausibilty doesn't bother me. What jolts is the too stark contrast between serious and whimsical scenes. In the fourth film, which I intend to watch soon, things pick up again.