Sparta

Ulrich Seidl's 2022 Austrian film follows Ewald, in his forties and long settled in Romania. Leaving his girlfriend, he moves to the countryside and, with boys from the area, turns a decaying school into a fortress. The children enjoy this new, carefree arrangement, but the villagers' suspicion is soon awakened. Seidl builds the character's paedophilic inclination explicitly and keeps the viewer at an uncomfortable closeness. Before release, following an investigation of more than six months, Der Spiegel reported that the non-professional child actors, aged between nine and sixteen, had not been told of the film's paedophilia theme and were confronted unprepared with alcohol, nudity and violence. Seidl denied the allegations; the Toronto International Film Festival cancelled the world premiere hours before the screening, stating that guidelines protecting children had not been followed. It is not possible to watch the film without that context. The visual language is Seidl's usual symmetrical, distanced manner. Who it's for: viewers interested in the uncomfortable wing of European art cinema and in Seidl's work. Who it's not for: anyone who does not want to watch a film centred on sexual attraction to children, or who cannot set aside the allegations about the production.