Documentary about the Dannenröder Forest occupation – Friday

Wind, just give a glimpse of the former forest. Clear felling dominates, the camera flies over felled logs, and construction machinery makes its way through the forest. This is what it looks like now, the Dannenröder Forest in Hesse, which is the subject of the film by photographer David Klammer. The focus is not only on the forest, but also on its occupiers. “Dani,” as they call it, must be saved from the superficial consumption entailed by the expansion of the highway network. In times of climate crisis, when the mobility revolution can never really advance fast enough, the underdeveloped project has something symbolic. In 2019, activists occupied the forest, erecting tree houses up to 20 meters high, and finally vacated them in December 2020. Over the past two months, From September to December 2020, Klammer accompanied activists, approached them, and captured life in treehouse settlements. Hambacher’s forest occupation, which eventually succeeded in court, is depicted by Klammer. Here he gets to know the activists better and is fascinated by their world, protesting this closeness to squatters speaks of many barricades. This is further enhanced by the fact that David Klammer made all the recordings himself – without any additional camera or sound people. He accompanies forest dwellers to treehouses, where newcomers are instructed, during climbing training, at protest concerts, or when camp is made and garbage is taken out of the forest. Little embedded media content is explained here, only names are used and no people are introduced, there are sometimes seemingly random encounters that leave viewers somewhat lost. Many of the activists are masked or made up—and this creates a disturbing contrast: On the one hand, the occupiers allow a deep insight—into their fear of the climate crisis, their sense of responsibility to succeeding generations, their fundamental criticism of capitalism and their longing for an alternative life model that sometimes turns into revolutionary romanticism. On the other hand, the protagonists remain surprisingly elusive. So do you really get more insight into the activists’ lives than in other documentaries about the occupation? Not really – and yet Barrikade differs from other films of its genre, Klammer’s visuals are particularly impressive – the endangered jungle aesthetic as well as the protest movement. They are close-ups of treehouses with an eye for detail, capturing the moments when activists put on make-up, hold together a tree to a stockade, or scratch their fingertips to make them more difficult to identify. This does not make all the forms of protest offered convincing – for example, the esoteric-looking celebrations of Extinction Rebellion or the seemingly anachronistic protest concerts. However, Barrikade becomes a reference to the protest and the protesters’ ideals – and to what they want to preserve.

Elena Douglas

“Explorer. Communicator. Music geek. Web buff. Social media nerd. Food fanatic.”