I think seeing this film 1 year after collapse of wall street makes for a very interesting experience.The decay in American society, the sheer rudderlessness of its youth and their despondency is captured brilliantly.They are literally abandoned by their parents generation and lead hollow desperate lives.Well Obama is is office now but my guess is the lower sections of American society are not much better off and if will not change very fast either.Seeing the greatest nation on earth being reduced to such hopelessness was very unnerving. The movie manages to achieve its objective of portraying a burning house and the acting is top notch from the very young cast.I cared very deeply about each and every character of the film and by the end filled with anger against the system which has reduced a whole generation to such a sorry state.But yes there is always hope..

Sorry, but the house wasn't burning - it didn't even get remotely warm. The story is good and I expected something along the lines of Go! (fast paced, parallel stories, etc) but unfortunately the film didn't deliver. The film lacks a real beginning and ending. The different character's stories are alright but neither deep enough developed nor colourful enough depicted. Overall the film were a rather boring 90 minutes in the cinema - no big deal. It's not the worst film ever, but far from being really cool - mediocre at it's best (no big laughs, no tension, no action). I definitely won't buy this one on DVD. Oh, and the music sucked... My Rating: 3 out of 10

i saw the film at the Seoul film festival where it also won the Jury Award. everybody was shocked and amazed by it somehow. long discussion after the screening with the director. not that you haven't seen anything like it before, but its well acted, well filmed and well told. i personally like how it explores its characters, building up to the climax of the last half an hour, the pace increasing and characters and story lines crashing. watch it yourself - you won't be disappointed. strange that a German director has to make such a film, but maybe it needs that objective distance for a realistic and true film like this one.

THE HOUSE IS BURNING was definitely one of the best surprises this year at the Cannes Filmfestival. (Wim Wenders is one of the executive Producers - Peter Bogdanovich was also at the screening!!!) the structure of the film revolves around a group of teenagers and their (mostly absent) parents. One of them is spending his last day at home before leaving for war. i really liked how the film played the political aspect of war versus the "war at home". acting is great. the cast is great! Melissa Leo, one of my favorite actresses since i've seen her in 21 Grams is fabulous. But everyone in this cast is doing a great job and i am sure you will hear/see some of the names again. A really strong and emotional film. Go see it if you have the chance.