Films force anger of the ageing onto German agenda

HAMBURG, Germany, Jan 24 (Reuters) Two veteran film-makers have confronted Germany's troubled health care and pension systems, throwing themselves into a sensitive debate which many political leaders have shied away from.

With governments apparently reluctant to get to grips with the political time-bombs, film-makers Regina Ziegler and Dieter Wedel are helping to force the topics into the spotlight with separate controversial television feature movies.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and other politicians often talk of ''demographic developments'' to try to explain away problems in pensions and health care.

But the population is shrinking, health care is becoming unaffordable for some and the pension system is under-funded.

Ziegler, 62, and Wedel, 64, have used fiction to hammer home the point that Germany, once one of the world's richest nations, faces what they believe are health and pension crises.

''The political leaders are afraid to be honest,'' Wedel said in an interview with Reuters ahead of his February film ''Mein Alter Freund Fritz'' (My Old Friend Fritz) that takes a scathing look at profit-hungry hospitals and doctors.

''It's unfortunate that there is so much cowardice and ducking away from problems,'' added Wedel, who wrote and directed the 99-minute, 2.4 million-euro film for ZDF television.

SENIOR CITIZENS REVOLT Ziegler's 135-minute science-fiction film ''Aufstand der Alten'' (Uprising of the Old People) is a faux documentary-style production set in 2030. More than 10 million viewers saw it on ZDF last week and it sparked widespread debate in Germany.

In the film, most senior citizens are on the brink of starvation with minimal pensions and almost no health care.

A journalist played by Bettina Zimmermann is investigating the mysterious death of an elderly rebel leader and ''looks back'' at the uprising's roots, discovering empty promises by leaders about pensions and a failure to fix the problems in the past.

The film has upset viewers, many unable to distinguish fact from fiction. One retired political leader, Kurt Biedenkopf, said ''Uprising of the Old People'' is a belated wake-up call.

''If films like these were made 15 years ago, we wouldn't have wasted as much time and wouldn't now be worrying about the disaster we're heading for,'' said Biedenkopf, formerly a leader in Merkel's Christian Democrats and premier of Saxony state.

''A film had to first come along before enough people recognised the problem,'' added Biedenkopf, 76, in the Hamburger Abendblatt daily.

The ratio of workers for each pensioner is expected to fall to 1-1 in 2037 from 2-1 currently -- and 8-1 in 1957.

The population of 82 million is expected to drop to 70 million by 2050. The low birth rate means average ages are creeping up -- from 42 years currently to 50 by 2050. Data from the federal statistics office projects the number of those aged 80 and above will rise to 10 million by 2050 from 4 million.

''A film like this might help to shake people awake now,'' wrote Dorothea Siems in a column for Die Welt newspaper.

Klaus Hirrlinger, president of the seniors' VdK lobby, said the pseudo documentary was only scaring people. He said it would exacerbate tension between seniors and younger generations.

''My fear is that the seniors aren't going to be able to tell any more what's fiction and what's fact,'' he told the Neue Presse daily, a comment that forced ZDF to clarify the film's purpose.

''The film isn't mean to scare anyone but rather spark debate and enlighten so that it never comes to such a fight between old people and young people,'' said ZDF film editor Steffen Bayer.

DARK COMEDY ON HEALTH CARE SYSTEM Wedel's film is set in the present.

A dark comedy about the commercialisation of health care, the film seeks to explore whether doctors have time for patients and genuinely care about them.

Ulrich Tukur plays a doctor shaken out of a bout of midlife cynicism after a near-fatal car crash.

But he begins to worry about drifting away from his earlier dedication to his professional oath after the death of a young mother -- whose gall bladder operation was not necessary but was carried out on his recommendation for revenue.

''The expensive operating rooms have to be constantly in use, so they perform pointless operations,'' said Wedel, after an advance press screening drew prolonged applause from scores of film critics in Hamburg last week.

After the crash, the doctor starts seeing the ghost of his late friend Fritz, also a doctor. Fritz reminds him in heated discussion about how he lost his way chasing a big salary and luxurious lifestyle.

But it is not just a story about dubious ethics and hospital greed. The film also explores death.

''Everyone's afraid to address the fundamental issue: the growing gap between what can be done medically to prolong life and what is affordable. But no one is giving any answers. That's a film-maker's job -- to swim against the tide.'' Reuters PB DB0924