“Scorched Earth” in the cinema: Thomas Arslan in an interview: In a cold city

“In the Shadows” was released in cinemas in 2010, and now they are bringing back the main character Trojan (Mišel Matičević). How are the two parts connected?

The trilogy was not originally planned as such. I just felt like filming in Berlin again and taking a closer look. That was also a theme for the character of Trojan, who returns to a completely changed city after a long period of time. In terms of the character, it wasn’t that difficult for me to imagine myself in the situation again. Trojan hasn’t changed much, he’s just gotten older; He is more burned out by his lifestyle than he was a few years ago. He has no permanent residence, doesn’t stay anywhere for long and basically moves from apartment to apartment, hotel to hotel, city to city, doing a thing here and there. He looks for anonymous places that he can just afford and from there he looks for a new job. For me it was important that the new part worked on its own and that no characters from last time appeared again. I also felt that it made the world too small, so I decided against it.

What has happened to Berlin in the last few years – and how has that inspired you?

It used to be possible to live in Berlin with less means. The fact that the prices here have risen so dramatically means that entire sections of the population are being pushed out, and that is affecting the atmosphere of the city. It seems more uniform. That doesn’t play an explicit role in “Scorched Earth,” but we tried to create this latent inhospitable and forbidding atmosphere in an abandoned city. Formally, we emphasized this with many night scenes in a cold city, also as a reminiscence of film noir.

In the film, a picture is stolen from a museum in Berlin-Dahlem. How did you prepare for this robbery?

We had to change our plans when it came to the museum. The film was originally supposed to take place in Essen’s Folkwang Museum, where Caspar David Friedrich’s “Woman in Front of the Setting Sun” actually comes from, but it turned out relatively early on that we wouldn’t be able to get permission to film. That’s why I had to restructure the script. We then decided on the former Ethnological Museum in Berlin and were really lucky that we could move around the museum quite freely. It seemed spooky because all the exhibits were packed in boxes to be moved step by step into the Humboldt Forum. On site we learned how to pack the pictures for transport and how to open a box with a cordless screwdriver. Mišel Matičević then practiced the moves himself.

How did you choose the other filming locations?

I find places as I write so I can lean on them while I write. As with the first part, I worked with the cameraman Reinhold Vorschneider and the production designer Reinhild Blaschke. The picture expands when we set off together. We discuss what is possible when filming and then choose the locations together. The places are transit places such as parking lots, parking decks and side streets where clandestine transactions take place without being observed. I based myself on the real topography of the city.

On the one hand you talk about abandoned places, on the other hand there is also an action scene. How difficult was it to shoot in Berlin? The city is swarming with film crews…

Filming is becoming increasingly difficult in Berlin because it has become extremely bureaucratic. There is a catalog of requirements that must be met. One of the reasons for this is that a lot of filming takes place in Berlin. During the numerous car journeys through the city, we didn’t have the means to block off the streets and so we shot a lot of car scenes in ongoing traffic. It took us a long time to record a controlled scenario. For the end, where an accident occurs near the Warsaw Bridge, we got permission to film and also closed off the corresponding side streets.

Why are old cars mainly used?

Of course, the main characters have primarily professional reasons for driving older models. The new cars have a lot of electronics on board that also collect movement data. If you want to remain untracked, it is more professional to use cars that do not contain this form of electronics.

They tell a very unique story about the cars – that of the getaway driver Diana (Marie Leuenberger) and Trojan.

The two meet each other cautiously and skeptically at first, then they come together on a professional level. They are both loners. The car works like a cell in which you isolate and protect yourself from your environment. This especially plays a role in the main character. I found it interesting that they are characters who don’t have exactly the same lifestyle, but their professionalism puts them on an equal footing. A connection would actually be possible, but it still doesn’t happen.

In addition to Trojan, Victor (Alexander Fehling) plays a crucial role. How did you create the character of Victor?

We talked for a long time in advance about the fact that this character has something latently threatening about him, but that he doesn’t run around as a crazy psychopath all the time. We know in advance what context a scene in the film is in and work with that. On site we try out how quickly or slowly you speak a sentence or how the person moves. When it comes to filming, it’s more pragmatic on both sides. Then it’s just a matter of finer details.

“Scorched Earth”, Germany 2024. Directed and written by Thomas Arslan. With: Mišel Matičević, Marie Leuenberger, Alexander Fehling, Tim Seyfi, Marie-Lou Sellem, Katrin Röver, Bilge Bingül. 100 min. Start: July 18th.
The cinema »Arsenal« in Berlin is showing a retrospective of Thomas Arslan’s films until the beginning of August. At the same time there is an exhibition in New Berlin Art Association to Arslan’s work.