What do you suppose it would really be like to acquire superpowers? Imagine you wake up one day and you can literally punch through a wall or jump over a house … what do you do with that? I don’t think movies have adequately covered mundane superheroism. Authorities don’t actually like vigilantes and lotsa people have the ability to wield lethal power these days (especially in the United States. And supervillainy? In our age -just like any other- is caused most often by those with super influence, not a super brain or a super skill set. Let’s face it … who knows a real life super tailor? Where do you even find one of those? So what’s a real life super to do?
Wendy (Cornelia Gröschel) is a short order cook. She doesn’t appear any studier than your average German woman; if you told me her Jabba-like boss could benchpress a Death Star, that I might believe, but Wendy (or is it “Vendy?”)… less. In fact, she doesn’t even know she has super powers. The opening of the film shows us how tiny Wendy destroyed a schoolhouse …this what you get when you play The Red Balloon once too often. Since that episode, however, a psychologist and an endless series of blue pills have kept UberWendy at bay and in a fog.
One day while taking out the trash, Wendy meets a homeless guy (Wotan Wilke Möhring) who can’t die. Lord knows he tries, twice, right in front of her. Well that’s odd, huh? People don’t usually fall to their non-deaths right in front of me. Apparently drifter dude knows Wendy is a super and urges her to stop taking the pills. He’s kind of an anti-Morpheus.
This leads to a weird twist on spousal abuse; if a woman truly doesn’t know her own strength, does her physical reaction to her husband still count as domestic abuse? Why or why not?
So we’re back to the initial question: if you have superpowers, what do you do? Wendy decides Jabba the Boss ain’t pushin’ her around anymore, but doesn’t have a solid plan after that point. Then she discovers another of her co-workers, Elmar (Tim Oliver Schultz) is on the blue pill diet, too. Geez, how many of these guys are there? Or did you make sure they all worked in the same place?
Freaks: You’re One of Us had definite promise. Everybody likes to think they can unlock superpowers if they just “level up” or whatever; it’s great fantasy. Also, so many of us have no real idea what we’d do with super powers. Personally, I’d use them to find a part of the world where no MAGA has ever lived and go there … a lot. It shouldn’t be hard; it almost certainly describes most anywhere outside the United States. Fantasies aside, Freaks didn’t have a great deal to say and felt like the use of power simply existed as some form of parlor game, which is a huge letdown given the powerful opening where a little girl has clearly destroyed an entire school. Can’t say this film did it for me, but if they made a sequel, -where the rules were already established and we didn’t have to play the “wonder” game- I’d pay attention.
There once was a woman so super
Without thought, she could best any trooper
Would she enhance her grace
Or save the human race?
These questions left the writer in a stupor
Rated TV-MA, 92 Minutes
Director: Felix Binder
Writer: Marc O. Seng
Genre: Super accessibility
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Ordinary dreamers
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Marvel Studios
