Punish the perpetrators, but there are a lot of them. Marie Bloching as the new superhero
Photo: RTL+
Is that really a good idea? A series about a rape victim that is cheeky, radical or funny? Director Elsa van Damke tries to do exactly that: In the five-part RTL+ dramedy “Appropriately Angry,” she forgoes drama, instead switching to the superhero genre and relying on wild pace, hard facts and strong dialogue. The television audience is not treated to just any superhero story, but rather pure feminism. The intro makes this clear: “What would a hero be if his dream were simply part of his everyday life? A nobody or worse: a woman!” The fact that this series is damn contemporary is as sad as it is true.
In Germany, according to actress Maria Furtwängler, who founded the MaLisa Foundation for a “free society” with her daughter Elisabeth, two out of three women experience sexual violence in the course of their lives, one in seven of which is severe. According to a study by the MaLisa Foundation, gender-specific violence occurs in every third TV show, and only eight percent of crime dramas take on the perspective of the female victim. There is almost never a trigger warning or information for those affected. With “Appropriately Angry” it does. Disguised as a superheroine dramedy, the screenwriters Elsa van Damke and Jana Forkel harshly dispel male-dominated rape myths.
And so the rape of the chambermaid Amelie (Marie Bloching) doesn’t happen in a dark alley, but rather casually during her working hours. A guest (Laurence Rupp) follows her into the staff area and forces her to have sexual intercourse in the kitchen. Since the hotel camera is broken, as always, no one notices the event. You don’t see the attack, but you still understand the scene. The microwave heats up, the kitchen cupboard shakes, the dishes fall out of the cupboard and shortly afterwards Amelie lies in a heap of broken pieces. Since then, she has been able to recognize men who have assaulted women through touch.
Amelie’s grandma Ursel (Christiane Ziehl) gets to the heart of the problem: “Every man is related to, friends with, or together with a moral scoundrel” – if he isn’t one himself. Director and author Elsa van Damke, herself a survivor of sexual violence, explained at the Seriecamp Festival in Cologne that she would have wanted a series like “Appropriately Angry” when she was 15 years old. Now she made the series herself. In order to provide a safe environment for everyone, the team did background checks on the cast of “Appropriately Angry” – and had great difficulty finding someone to play the main rapist.
Amelie’s supernatural powers are not lost on her friends Johanna (Shakiba Eftekhari-Fard) and Tristan (Bless Amada). Johanna sees Amelie’s new abilities as an opportunity to get back at the perpetrators. From now on, and with the help of her grandmother, she will punish the perpetrators with a harsh hand as the masked “#Hysteria” – if possible all of them, but there are a hell of a lot of them. The original title of the series “Of someone who set out to learn to fear” explains the focus of the sometimes quite drastic scenes quite well. But behind the avenger – representing many other women – there is actually a wounded soul.
In the self-help group that Amelie attends, a woman who had experienced something similar said that she was feeling well again: “I had sex again yesterday, it was really nice,” but “then I had a guilty conscience that I wasn’t having a good one.” “I was a victim.” Amelie faced her trauma and freed herself from the idea of victimhood. “Appropriately Angry” is ultimately a contemporary story of self-empowerment and friendship.
Runs on RTL+
We-don’t-give-each-other anything
Our Christmas campaign not only brings the joy of reading, but also warmth and festivity into the house. With the three-month trial subscription you get a pair of left socks from Socks with attitude and a bottle of sparkling wine Social Sector – perfect for a relaxed winter time. A gift that informs, warms and supports the dropout program EXIT Germany supports. Order a we-don’t-give-each-other gift now.