The Edukators (German: Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei)[a] is a 2004 crime drama film directed by the Austrian director Hans Weingartner.

A co-production between Germany and Austria, it stars Daniel Brühl, Stipe Erceg, and Julia Jentsch as three young, anti-capitalist Berlin activists involved in a love triangle.

The film, shot in Berlin and Austria with digital hand-held cameras, was made on a low budget which Weingartner said kept the focus on the acting.

Set in 2004, the film revolves around three young anti-capitalist activists in Berlin's city centre: Jule (Julia Jentsch), her boyfriend Peter (Stipe Erceg) and his best friend Jan (Daniel Brühl).

Jule is a waitress struggling to pay off a €100,000 debt she incurred a year ago when she crashed into a Mercedes-Benz S-Class belonging to a wealthy businessman named Hardenberg (Burghart Klaußner).

The three cannot decide what to do with Hardenberg and take him to a remote, rarely used cabin belonging to Jule's uncle in the Tyrolean Austrian Alps near Jenbach, overlooking Achensee.

The film ends with Peter, Jan and Jule asleep in the same bed as a group of heavily armed police (Spezialeinsatzkommando)[c] gather outside their flat and knock on the door.

In the original German version, the Edukators set off in Hardenberg's boat in the Mediterranean, presumably to disrupt the island signal towers supplying most television programming to Western Europe.

[6] His second feature film, The Edukators was shot with hand-held digital cameras,[11] allowing the director "to explore the space and give actors license to go wherever they wanted."

[7] Hardenberg's "psycho-sexual powerplay" against the main characters while in the Alps stands for what Weingartner considers "a betrayal of European Left by hippie-era survivors including Joschka Fischer, Gerhard Schroder—and Tony Blair.

[15] While Roxanne Sancto of Paste dubbed it as a film about "disillusioned youth",[16] Boyd van Hoeij, writing for The Hollywood Reporter, said that it was part of a trend of films that "attempt to figure out what it is about political extremes that seduces young people – and how their idealism and hormone-powered gumption can eventually come head-to-head with the much uglier realities of politics and life".

[19][7] There it was nominated for the Palme d'Or, marking the first time a German film entered in the competition since 1993, when Wim Wenders' Faraway, So Close!

"[38] According to Sean Axmaker of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, it was "a rare film that gets smarter as it goes along ... inject[ing] a satisfying dash of pragmatism every time it seems ready to slip into either unearned idealism or cynical fatalism.

"[39] Ray Bennett wrote for The Hollywood Reporter, "The Edukators is that rare beast, a terrific movie that boasts intelligent wit, expert storytelling, delightful characters and grown-up dialogue plus suspense and a wicked surprise ending.

"[40] A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote that despite "its shortcomings" on political subjects, it "succeeds brilliantly in telling the story of a man who falls in love with his best buddy's girlfriend and doesn't know what to do about it.

"[3] Tim Appelo of Seattle Weekly praised "the marvelous acting, the sensitive, utterly realistic treatment of the young-love triangle," adding: "The Edukators is educational—not intellectually, but emotionally.

"[41] Washington Post critic Stephen Hunter praised the film's realism: "The whole thing feels messy, painful, funny and believable, just like that hideous circus known as real life.

"[10] The Times' Howard Swains wrote that it "manages to combine political discourse, a love-triangle and a hostage plot, all without sacrificing its graceful humour.

"[42] Los Angeles Times critic Carina Chocano described it as a "sweet, funny and gripping romantic adventure,"[43] and "The only accurate, ironic and poignant depiction of what it's like to be young and socially committed in the WTO era".

"[46] In Slant Magazine, Jason Clark wrote that the film needed "a touch of the perverse", but "Weingartner plays out the drama far too earnestly, and the story barely sustains the length of a movie half of its running time.

"[48] Similar criticism of the film's didacticism was made by Brett Michel of Boston Phoenix,[49] Kriss Allison of Stylus Magazine[50] and Glenn Whipp of the Los Angeles Daily News.

[51] Andre Wright wrote for The Stranger, "[It] starts strong, with an ingratiatingly anarchic vibe, but quickly devolves into a dust-dry, hectoring socialist lecture: a cinematic version of Kenner's My First Revolution playset.

"[52] Jonathan Romney of The Independent said that Weingartner "presents his indictment of the System in crudely stacked terms that make The Edukators very much a teen movie rather than a plausible political statement.

"[53] In The Times, Wendy Ide wrote: "What could have been an effective piece of drama, a dialogue to cause both sides to question the very foundations of their belief systems, is just a two-hour rant from a wispy bearded idealist whose idea of brotherhood is to sleep with his best friend's girlfriend.

[58][59] In 2006 a group of left-wing activists calling itself "Hamburg for Free" dressed as superheroes, robbing food from upper-class stores to distribute to the underclass.

[60] The media considered the crimes inspired by the film, and some protesters had T-shirts and banners reading "Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei" (The Edukators' original title).

[62] It gained international attention and in 2006 it was announced that Brad Anderson would adapt and direct a version of the film set in the United States.

[64] To promote the play, furniture-like sculptures by juvenile interns in Rio de Janeiro were placed in affluent neighborhoods such as Flamengo, Gávea, Ipanema, Lagoa and Leblon.

[64] After being staged in Rio de Janeiro, performances were also held in São Paulo, Porto Alegre, Salvador, Brasília, and Belo Horizonte.