In their documentary, Soldiers of Light, which they co-directed and presented in a world premiere within the Visions du Réel Festival’s International Feature Films Competition, German directors Julian Vogel and Johannes Büttner capture the dystopic world of far-right ideologies incarnated by the troubling David aka Mister Raw. He’s a school friend of Julian Vogel’s and has a similar background to the latter, which has nevertheless taken him on a very different path, but Mister Raw agrees nonetheless to be filmed, buoyed by convictions which are so strong they challenge all notions of common sense. David might be considered one of the most influential leaders on the so-called “healers” scene associated with far-right ideologies, which is all the rage on social media and on Tik Tok in particular. A kind of vegan guru convinced he can cure highly complex pathologies such as schizophrenia or tumours through food supplements and fasting, Mister Raw channels all kinds of paradoxes: with his blend of pseudo hippy discourse which is explosive and worrying to say the least, and his explicit desire to get rich which extols clear, neoliberal thinking and far-right-style beliefs, the film’s protagonist accompanies us into the abysses of an obscure, menacing and increasingly voracious world.

Although Julian Vogel and Johannes Büttner make no secret of the fear they feel at lending visibility to a frightening world which could almost slide into the absurd if it weren’t so dangerously real, the precision and consistency with which they observe this universe in order to better dissect it, make their work indispensable. The closeness between Vogel and David, the fact that they grew up in a similar context, meant that the former could film the Raw family without filters, primarily its different components, the group dynamics which animate it, and the inequalities they advocate. Whilst, on the one hand, David seems to embody the role of the charitable messiah who’s wholly devoted to his “lost sheep” in the hellish world of carnivores and democratic freedoms, his main role as a businessman at the head of an incredibly lucrative firm which thrives on majestic speeches disseminated on YouTube, Instagram and Tik Tok, drives him to shamelessly exploit anyone within reach.

The person directly paying the price for this is Timo, who suffers from mental illness and who’s convinced he can free himself from “dark forces” by purifying his body and mind through a particularly rigorous fasting regime and mysterious plant-based combinations. All the characters in the film - David especially - are shot in a very simple, direct and almost geometrical fashion, which contrasts with the great dynamism and torrents of words characterising the videos the protagonists post on their channels. But Timo’s inexpressive and emaciated face seems to break with this pattern, and it ultimately becomes the protagonist of this story. His inexpressiveness and fragile body, which has been subjected to long hours of unpaid work, seem to monopolise attention, despite the subtle nature of his presence. Soldiers of Light is a real snapshot of a troubling world which the directors - as they themselves clearly state - want to document without getting mixed up in debates (insofar as discussion is still possible) with people who clearly don’t share the same ideas. The images we’re treated to introduce us to new forms of violence, which aren’t explosive or explicit but subtler in nature, which reach out across the web and enthral those desperate for immediate answers to the chaos we call life.

Soldiers of Light was produced by Wood Water Films and patatino.