The Wild Hearts-De Vilde hjerter (2008)

Directed by: Michael Noer | 80 minutes | documentary

What happens when a group of young adult men ride their mopeds from Denmark to Poland? What happens along the way, what happens within the group and what does the individual undergo? Every member of The Wild Hearts has their own motivation to go on this road trip, with freedom as the common denominator. And alcohol, a lot of alcohol. Along the way they are confronted with each other but above all with themselves. In the beginning, some members are introduced, they tell why they go along with this journey in their own vague way. Because of the alcohol everything is not so cohesive anymore, but it is clear that they love each other, that Denmark is fucked up and that freedom is the highest good. After that, you immediately get an idea of ​​what these guys like to do most: drinking and undressing. It will be liberating.

The trip starts in Odense, “The asshole of Denmark” as the moped gang call it. But first there is a good farewell party. And at The Wild Hearts, that means a lot of alcohol, live music, a lot of talking and yelling, dancing naked or riding your moped – whether that’s indoors or out – and for some: being branded. This nasty ritual was created together to record this journey, this period in their lives, forever. With a heart as a symbol. After this goodbye, they can go. Along the way, everyone wonders why he went on the trip. At various campfires, this is discussed and heatedly discussed. For some it’s a closure of his wild lifestyle, another realizes it’s more of a cliché for him.

After a week the euphoria has subsided a bit and after days of rain and the beginning of fatigue, the irritability increases. The unity in the group disappears and boredom creeps in despite the freedom. Change of scenery, crazy when they are constantly sleeping in the woods among the mosquitoes, make them decide to spend the night in a city. That was the right decision and the atmosphere is clearing up again.

Just before the end, one of The Wild Hearts has an accident (and that is not a moped accident!) and ends up in the hospital. The question is whether they will leave him behind to reach the oh-so-important and weeks-to-lived end point, the entire purpose of the trip, or whether they will choose that the group and everything they experienced together along the way is more important than the physical end point. This is a nice idea but gets rushed a bit quickly. It therefore comes across as artificial. The chaos of The Wild Hearts at that moment in their lives is emphasized by the extremely loose way of filming. Not only the camera is used spontaneously, especially the varying use of film types adds an extra dimension. Coarse-grained images mix with blurry images, colorful for daytime with the gray-green of nighttime. In addition, images are slowed down or slightly accelerated or brightly lit from an unusual angle. Besides the fact that the picture is very varied, so is the sound. Often the ambient sounds are simply left intact. Whether that is the shouting of the men, the nature in which they pitch their tent or the village or town where they are going to repair/walk/sleep on their mopeds.

Among the pieces in which the boys are on their way, very atmospheric and humorous Danish and German music from the 1970s has been edited. Defining the atmosphere because they simply drive through Denmark and Germany, and because the tour radiates the freedom of the 70s. It is a beautiful and well thought-out addition. At the beginning of the film you tend to think ‘what mess have I ended up in now?’ and the film is not always pleasant to watch with those weird antics of those weird Danes. But despite the wantonness, these bizarre moped madmen intrigue and you are carried away by their enthusiasm and naivety on this road to adulthood.