Joy Ride (Swiss film)

Infobox_Film
name = Joy Ride
released = 16 November 2000
runtime = 90mins
language = Swiss German
starring = Andi Zehnder
Sebastian Hölz
Edward Piccin
Stephan Krauer
Claudia Knabenhans
director = Martin Rengell
writer = Lukas B. Suter
producer = Claudia Wick
cinematography = Marco Barberi
imdb_id = 0275812

Joy Ride is a Swiss movie that followed Lars von Trier's Dogme 95 manifesto. It is classified as the 14th dogme movie.

"Joy Ride", which employs a very realistic, near-documentary style, is based on the real homicide of a 19-year-old girl in Zürich, Switzerland in 1992. The incident attracted a great deal of media coverage in Switzerland.

Style

Nearly all of the principle roles are played by amateurs and a good majority of the filming locations are original sites, as the Dogme style demands. "Joy Ride" violates some of the rules of Dogme, but it is not unusual for productions employing its principles to fail to adhere strictly to one or two of the stringent rules. One clear transgression is the importing of a soundtrack onto the final cut, violating the rule whereby all sound must be naturally recorded.

Story

A clique of young people spends their time driving around the city, drinking in trendy nightspots and smoking joints. An outsider (Sandra) who takes up with the clique falls in love with one of the its members (Daniel). Their relationship remains diffuse and directionless, provoking and tension and threatening to cause a schism within the group.

Background

The incident on which "Joy Ride" is based is reported in the magazine "Beobachter". According to the report, the murdered girl was no longer tolerated within the clique and they had assaulted her by singing her hair and bending her fingers back. On March 14 1992, the male contingent of the clique, who had spent the afternoon smoking marijuana, decided "heute Abend passiert es. Andrea muss weg." ('Tonight it happens/has to happen. Andrea must leave.') Patrick and Thomas were allegedly the dominant force in the discussion; Roman, who drove the car for the commission of the crime, claims to have been unconvinced that her transgression warranted murder. Roman, a compulsive gambler and alcoholic at odds with his parents, was an old friend of Thomas but their association had recently terminated. Three weeks before murder, Roman meets Thomas again and the pressure to regain his approval clearly contributes to his decision to assist in the murder.

As the clique drive back from an evening at a local pub, Patrick takes his belt off and ties it around Andrea's neck. She manages to shake him off, but Thomas orders Roman to turn off the main road and assaults her again. Roman stops the car and urges the other men to stop; they hesitate, but as another car full of potential witnesses passes them Thomas decides that they cannot leave her alive.Roman stops the car at the parking lot of restaurant Girenbad.

The police report states that Roman now placed his hand on Andrea's belly and shouted "Die ist ja tot!" ('She really is dead!') Roman wanted to drive the car over a slope to kill himself and the others. Thomas succeeded in calming him a bit, and the three drove on to dispose of the corpse by a nearby creek. They removed some of her clothing in attempt to imply rape as the motive for the crime.

They then drove to Thomas' home, spent the night together and bragged about the incident to a friend. On Sunday they decided that the corpse should be moved to somewhere more secure. They returned to the creek to pick up Andrea's body and drove aimlessly towards Kyburg with the corpse stored in trunk. Eventually they tossed her body into a hidden gully. On Monday, workers on the road stumbled across Andrea. The perpetrators of her murder were swiftly arrested and all eventually confessed to their part in the crime.

The 20-year-old Roman was sentenced to 30 months in a Arbeitserziehungsanstalt (work education institute). Thomas (21), was sentenced to 14 years of jail, Patrick (23) to 16 years. The parents and brother of the victim were awarded 300 000 Swiss francs in compensation to be paid by the three perpetrators.

External links

* [http://www.cineman.ch/movie/2000/JoyRideDogma14/ Joy Ride on Cineman.ch] (in German)
* [http://www.beobachter.ch/artikel.asp?session=C276E1AF-D941-467C-A535-626E8E2DB5DD&AssetID=975 Article of the "Beobachter"] (in German)