by SARAH ROWLAND

"Where has the revolutionary energy of the youth gone? And how can we revitalize it? Or isn't this form of neo-liberal capitalism that's going on in Europe right now destroying our social systems? And what can we do about it?"

These are the issues Austrian filmmaker Hans Weingartner wants people to discuss after seeing his anti-capitalist romp The Edukators. But you might just come out asking yourself, "Hey wasn't that the guy from Good Bye, Lenin! and isn't he meant to be the Gael García Bernal of Germany?"

But don't tell Daniel Brühl that. He's the star of the film and pretty much the hottest actor in Europe right now, something the 27-year-old is beginning to resent.

"I really don't give a shit about those comparisons," says Brühl, calling from his Barcelona hotel room. "I just want to make good films. And I'm tired of all these labels, especially in Germany - they're always calling me a young star, a shooting star or a superstar and I just don't want any of it."

The soft-spoken actor, who speaks in a mutated German/Spanish/English accent, isn't as angry as he sounds. In fact, he doesn't seem to have a hint of anger in his personality, which is quite the opposite from Jan, his character in The Edukators. Jan is an angst-ridden activist who breaks into the heavily secured homes of filthy rich people with his partner Peter (Stipe Erceg). After rearranging the furniture into abstract sculptures, they leave a note stating: "Your days of plenty are numbered. You have too much money - signed the Edukators." This poetic terrorism is meant to destabilize the homeowners' sense of security. The risk is high and the payoff is minimal, but the angry young Jan is committed.

"Unfortunately, I don't have as much courage as Jan," admits Brühl. "I was only revolutionary in the same way most young people are: I was in a band, a socially critical punk band. Of course, it's unbearable for me to listen to the songs now because I wrote the lyrics and I sang, so it's pretty embarrassing. I try to ruin all the copies that I come across."

Squatting and plotting

Weingartner may not have any embarrassing recordings in his past, but he too tried working within the system to protest the injustices of globalization and had very little success.

"When I was in Austria I joined the Green Party," says Weingartner. "But it didn't work out for me because there were too many meetings, too many rules and too many discussion about power."

And so began his life of underground activism. "I moved to Berlin in the '90s," says Weingartner. "At the time, there was a lot of energy in the city and a lot of empty space and illegal clubs in the East and almost no police, so everyone was squatting. The streets were ours and I wanted to carry this feeling into a film.

"It was also very important for me to include some humour. I think it's the best way to present serious issues, because if you can't laugh about the system, then you are paralyzed. But if you laugh about the system then you can do something."

Much of the comedy comes when one of the break-ins goes wrong, forcing Jan, Peter and his girlfriend Jule (Julia Jentsch) to kidnap the homeowner. To their shock and horror, they find out that the symbol of all that they hate - a greedy CEO named Hardenberg (Burghart Klaussner) - was once a revolutionary rebel himself. In one of the funnier scenes, Hardenberg explains to Jan how his revolutionary resolve has slowly eroded over the years and been replaced by the need for security: "....and the next thing you know, I was at the polls voting conservative."

Bank robbers and the bourgeoisie

With his starving artist years way behind him and movie offers pouring in, Brühl is all too aware that his lifestyle may eventually turn him into the kind of person his character Jan despises.

"I'm really afraid of becoming a bit too posh or bourgeois," he says. "As an actor, I have all these benefits: I stay in expensive hotels, get paid very well and live in a big apartment, so I have all these luxuries that I didn't know before. It's a slow process but in the last few years I have definitely noticed how it's affected me."

But he still has a long way to go before he starts voting in favour of corporate tax breaks, and so in the meantime will continue playing young anarchists. Right now, he's filming his first Spanish film, in which he portrays anarchist bank robber Salvador Puig Antich, whose brutal execution helped bring down the Franco regime. He'll also continue working with politically charged filmmakers like Weingartner, and will make a third feature with him in the near future.

"We are a little bit like soul mates," says Weingartner. "We can work together without many discussions - few words are necessary because we understand each other. What I also like about him is that he really picks his films not according to the money but according to the screenplay. And I think what the audience likes about him is the moment he enters a scene, it stops being a movie and becomes real life. He gives movies credibility and people can identify with him, they don't feel tricked by him."

Euro copycats

Actually, people relate to Brühl's portrayal of Jan so much that there have been a number of copycat protests in parts of Europe.

"In Hamburg a group of people stormed the most expensive restaurant and stole the food right off the tables - they were wearing t-shirts that say, ‘Your days of plenty are numbered,'" says Weingartner. "And in Switzerland, they stormed a bank that did business with the Nazis and wrote some Edukators graffiti on the floor.

"This is something I'm really quite happy about. It's something I dreamt about while I was making the film. So I'm very proud that The Edukators is not just abstract art, but has somehow jumped down from the screen and become something real. Just imagine if those 40 people become thousands of people then things start to happen and you have a real revolution like in East Germany, which started out with only 25 demonstrators on the street. After two years, there were millions. The regime ordered the soldiers to shoot at them but they didn't because how can you shoot at two million people? The next day the wall came down."

As for Brühl, he can expect even more high-powered Hollywood agents to come sniffing around looking for the next Gael García Bernal. But according to Brühl, if they want him, they better pony up a damn good script.

"I consider myself a very European actor and right now I have the privilege of choosing what I want to do - I'm offered very interesting main parts," he says. "Of course there are a lot of American directors who I admire very much and would love to work with. But I'm very patient, so I'm waiting. If there is a nice project then yes I'll consider it, but otherwise no.

The Edukators opens on Friday, July 29

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