Measures to Better the World

Reviewed by Kris Rothstein

The Germans have upped the ante on absurdity with the film Measures to Better the World (produced by Jörn Hintzer, Jakob Hüfner), which chronicles a series of invented social movements such as the Green Light Society and Rent-a-Brother. In the most chilling segment, a doctor introduces a new insurance scheme in which patients learn medical skills, and when his son falls ill he urges his star pupils to perform an emergency appendectomy. Making fun of the well-intentioned is a bit too easy, though: the film was undeniably funny but it lacked substance. The best thing about this movie is that in German, the title is all one word.