System Crasher

2019

1h 50m

Drama

List

95%

37 Reviews

Tomatometer

94%

50+ Ratings

Audience Score

A 9-year-old's untamed energy drives everyone around her to despair.

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Critics Consensus

While it may test viewers' patience, System Crasher is a thoughtful and compassionate portrait of one child's trauma and anger, featuring an enigmatic Helena Zengel in the lead role.

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Audience Member

Benni is a 9 year old kid. She freaks out frequently, hurt kids at her school, curse at them and is quite a handful for everyone involved. Her mother can't take real care of her and the system really don't know what to do. We follow her at different fascilities and how she bonds with people that treats her bad, nice and everyone that let her down. A very, very relevant and strong movie. As I work with kids myself I know of these kind of kids. This portays the reality very good, even if it's a bit extremes and a few turns get really out of hand. The development is nice and two hours never seem long. Amazing acting from our young protagonist while others also delivers impressively on screen. Few known names, a solid production but most importantly a much needed and interesting film that gives us the difficult and big matter of children that crash systems ment to favour kids. 8.5 out of 10 owls.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

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Audience Member

One of my favourite films of all time, from the acting that Helena Zengel does. Her performance in this is utterly brilliant. A must watch.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A really sad movie, you will keep rooting for this little girl to find some solution to her ordeal until the end! The performance of Helena Zengel is superb, a rising star!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

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Nora Fingscheidt

Director

Helena Zengel

Benni

Albrecht Schuch

Micha

Gabriela Maria Schmeide

Frau Bafané, Jugendamtmitarbeiterin

Lisa Hagmeister

Mutter

Melanie Straub

Dr. Schönemann

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Danny Leigh

Financial Times

Punkishly propulsive... a portrait of a child in the grip of a troubled psyche.

Rated: 4/5

Apr 8, 2020

Full Review

Kevin Maher

Times (UK)

I saw this German language film at the Berlin Film Festival last year and I didn't like it. Lots of people did. So I watched it again recently. Still didn't like it.

Rated: 2/5

Apr 1, 2020

Full Review

Mark Kermode

Kermode & Mayo's Film Review

You absolutely do understand the world of the central character. A really powerful piece of cinema.

Mar 30, 2020

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Maria Lattila

The Digital Fix

System Crasher (Systemsprenger) is without a doubt a challenging watch, one that tests your ability to project empathy towards someone who in real life would definitely spurn it.

Rated: 7/10

Aug 10, 2021

Full Review

Milana Vujkov

Lola On Film

A punk rock salute to the painful roots of the antisocial impulse.

Rated: 5/5

Jul 31, 2021

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Tom Beasley

VultureHound

The nuance of the performances allows us to read between the lines and see the stark, sad reality of what isn't being said.

Rated: 4/5

Aug 17, 2020

Full Review

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Synopsis

A 9-year-old's untamed energy drives everyone around her to despair.

Director: Nora Fingscheidt
Screenwriter: Nora Fingscheidt
Production Co: Weydemann Bros., Kineo Filmproduktion
Genre: Drama
Original Language: German
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 21, 2020
Runtime: 1h 50m

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