Because Reto Brennwald’s film Corona is a success

The Corona movie is a success, but the director is not really comfortable

The movie “Unheard of” was seen over 400,000 times in three weeks. There are no other performances.

Pascal Ritter / ch media

The movie “Unheard of” is seen. Reto Brennwald’s documentation has been viewed approximately 436,000 times since it was released three weeks ago on the Vimeo video platform.

How can this success be explained? The film is a disturbing critique of how the government and the media handled the first crown wave. The virus is presented as more harmless and the countermeasures, especially blocking, are worse than you think. The media are accused of allegedly missing voices of doctors and coronasceptic experts. The film thus reached a loyal fan base. It was celebrated in the relevant forums of the crown skeptics. But 400,000 views can’t be explained by this niche audience alone.

The crown skeptics and the Brennwald factor

Brennwald states: “400,000 views show me that there is obviously a great deal of interest in a critical view that goes far beyond the so-called coronavirus.” In fact, sender Brennwald is likely to have ensured that the film also reached some of its former audience. In the 2000s, the man with the characteristic face was a prominent figure on Swiss television.

He initially worked for the “Rundschau” and, since 2007, for the Arena. With his deep voice, which had once helped him make a career with “Radio 24”, he later took the viewer into travel reports or introduced strange personalities to doc-films. He left his position as “Arena” moderator after criticism that he preferred the UDC increased. «Teleblocher am Leutschenbach», wrote the «NZZ». This accusation also makes Brennwald popular with that part of the public for whom Swiss television is too leftist.

Even today he moderates the niche program “The points of view of the Sunday newspaper”. He is now self-employed. Brennwald was not available for a detailed discussion of the reactions to his film and his assessment of the current situation. He would prefer a concrete debate on “how we can overcome the crisis now” and not on his person, who had recently been “too central”. There is one thing in particular that Brennwald doesn’t want to talk about anymore.

It’s about Friday, October 23rd. At that time the film premiered in an event hall in Dübendorf. A discussion followed with Daniel Koch, coronaseptic family doctor Christoph Schmidli, trade association director Hans-Ulrich Bigler, and comedian Stefan Büsser, who belongs to the risk group due to lung disease.

The unpleasant whistles against Daniel Koch

New Brennwald fans came in droves. And some of them didn’t want to be told when and how loud they could speak, nor did they adhere to the mask requirement. Daniel Koch was booed several times and comedian Büsser was interrupted by complaints. Brennwald was clearly uncomfortable with this. “Not like that!” He once said to the audience, and when one of his guests was interrupted again: “I’d like to hear it.”

After the discussion in Dübendorf, Brennwald kept his distance from the troublemakers. Before, he had little fear of contact, even with provocative characters. On his YouTube channel, for example, he had a conversation with a blogger demanding that the Federal Council be jailed. Brennwald distances himself from the man’s individual extreme attitudes in the conversation, but released the video with the frightening title “Does the Federal Council belong to the prison?” On September 19, he enjoyed applause at a coronavirus demonstration on Zurich’s Turbinenplatz and solicited donations for his film.

The distance from his fans became evident. Because even before the premiere of the movie “Unheard of”, Brennwald started rowing. So he distanced himself from Marco Rima in a preliminary interview with the journalists to whom he showed the film before the premiere. The comedian has a prominent aspect in the film. Brennwald pointed out that the interview with Rima was recorded on a radio show with Roger Schawinski even before Rima made his comments. In Schawinski’s case, Rima opposed wearing a mask and relativized the deaths of the crown with reference to the excess birth rate. When asked what he would do differently today, Brennwald replied that he would interview Rima in more detail and criticism. Furthermore, Brennwald did not want to criticize the blockade measures that the cantons of Geneva and Valais had adopted shortly before the first.

Today he refrains from further screenings of his film, although this would still be possible on a small scale. “At the moment we are encouraged to social distancing, and I care,” Brennwald writes via e-mail. In any case, only a few other demonstrations were planned.

Is it opportunism or is there more?

You might dismiss Brennwald’s rumbling as opportunism: when he still needed donations and attention for his film, he took a pampering class with crown skeptics. The thing in the box and the donations in the account, distances itself. But this explanation is probably too simple. Anyone who argues with Brennwald recognizes him as doubtful. According to his own statements, he was one of the first to wear a mask when shopping in the store. But he soon questioned those measures. When he expressed his doubts on Facebook, he was attacked there, which prompted him even more to make the film.

Before the movie was released, the wind turned. Protective measures have decreased, infections more. The film’s stance that further blocking must be prevented has meanwhile become the doctrine of the Federal Council. Instead of rejection, Brennwald is in favor. It is entirely possible that the reporter had doubts again. (aargauerzeitung.ch)