“Everybody takes it really seriously except the young people.” Actor Martin Rapold, who plays Corporal Weiss in the film, agrees. “It’s a sacred cow in our society,” said Eschmann. Among older Swiss, the military is generally regarded as a pillar of Swiss society - a unifying factor in a country with four different languages and the force which has protected Switzerland from its enemies.īut the young men who have to serve in the army now tend to see things rather differently. The real root of the argument may well lie in a generational clash over the very existence of the Swiss Army.
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Furthermore, the army’s gift of jeeps and camouflage netting to decorate cinemas, along with free Swiss military biscuits for the audience, has also been hurriedly cancelled.
He also declined an invitation to appear as guest of honour at the film’s premiere. The joke is certainly lost on Defence Minister Samuel Schmid who has urged people not to go and see the film. But it is facing some unprecedented challenges. International Geneva is an important hub for multilateralism. The changing face of International Geneva “We did a lot of research for this film and we created this character who is really into pot, and we tried to make him funny.” “I think the people in the defence ministry just don’t have a sense of humour.” “In fact many people start smoking it there.” “This is a comedy,” he continued. “It’s a well-known fact that people smoke pot at recruit school,” he said. Director Eschmann admits that the issue is a sensitive one but doesn’t believe this is a reason to avoid it. “This is just impossible: if you take drugs in the army you are thrown out immediately.” The Swiss Army has made great efforts in recent years to stamp out drug use among recruits following a string of scandals. “There is one recruit who seems to be stoned for the entire four months of recruit school,” explained Buhler. The defence ministry says it finds many of the sex scenes in the film simply juvenile, but its main concern is with the treatment of drug use in the film. “They were there during the filming, and we had great cooperation with them until a few weeks ago, when I guess one of the bosses saw a rough cut and was obviously shocked.” “They had the script right from the start,” he told swissinfo. But Mike Eschmann, the film’s director, says he can’t understand what all the fuss is about. “We gave equipment, jeeps, weapons, uniforms, even a barracks,” said Buhler.
“What we’ve got instead is a film which is on the slippery downward slope of questionable taste.” The ministry is all the more incensed because the Swiss Army initially provided a lot of support for the film. “Many at the defence ministry regret that such promising film-makers didn’t rise to the occasion of producing a work of art,” defence ministry spokesman Martin Buhler told swissinfo. But the film’s raunchy humour and its portrayal of young recruits as having insatiable appetites for sex and drugs has offended Switzerland’s top brass. And when it went on general release, it opened in 43 cinemas simultaneously – a record for any Swiss film. It also has strong backing from Hollywood and is the first Swiss film to have a major distributor. The film is aimed at the youth market, it has a catchy soundtrack and the love interest is played by former Miss Switzerland Melanie Winiger. “Achtung, Fertig, Charlie!” (Ready, Steady, Charlie!) is a comedy set in recruit school, where all young Swiss men are expected to serve for four months. This content was published on Septem15:30 Septem15:30 Which is when things start to go terribly wrong.The film pokes fun at recruit school KeystoneĪ new film about the Swiss Army featuring generous amounts of sex and drugs has provoked anger at Switzerland’s defence ministry. Why? Because sex on the training base is strictly forbidden and will lead to dismissal. Willing to do everything to get back to his distressed fiancé, Antonio – a true love waits type – makes a controversial plan: He starts to make eyes at the good natured, female recruit Michelle, in order to get her laid.
Upon arrival at the training base, things start to get even worse. In the middle of his own wedding, Antonio, a young Swiss-Italian is lead away by the military police who escort him to the camp where he was supposed to start his military training.
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