ENDLICH WELTUNTERGANG (Barbara Gräftner) (2012)

So slowly it becomes really serious: If one may believe innumerable world end theories, then on 21 December 2012 the end of all days stands before the door. While the Maya in their prophecy still formulate it friendly as entrance of mankind into a new civilization, the conspiracy theorists of this world are already painting the potential apocalypse type: epidemics, tsunamis, meteorites, solar storms or gamma flashes. In the meantime, everyone is allowed to choose their favorite scenario from the colorful palette. But there are also people for whom the end of days puts a big smile on their faces: Schorch (delightfully evil: Christian Strasser) is one such person. The self-confident stock market speculator has not only made a lot of money with his doomsday stocks, but also runs a company with a Russian colleague that produces survival kits for the end of the world. And business is booming!
Nevertheless, the self-absorbed Schorchi, as his mom affectionately calls him, is not above accepting the offer of his ex-girlfriend Alina (Daniela Golpashin) to shoot a documentary about the upcoming end of the world together with her and her film crew. So the film crew goes to the chic hunting lodge of the wealthy man, who is one of the few who owns an adjacent tunnel, which he wants to convert for himself and his colleagues to make it safe for the end of the world. …No sooner have we survived Friday Night Horror alive than director Barbara Gräftner serves us another natural disaster of apocalyptic proportions: In her latest film Endlich Weltuntergang (End of the World), she delivers an amusing and biting commentary on the completely abstruse doomsday cults and their perpetrators. After all, if the world were to harbor many more Schorchs, the apocalypse would probably only come in handy.
Text: David Rams