Anyone who wants to understand the fundamentals of political business should not only pay attention to those who emphasized something yesterday and no longer want to know about it today, but also to those who react to it. Olaf Scholz, for example, had declared his candidacy for the SPD party chairmanship in November 2019 – admittedly from a different era – after he had previously rejected any considerations in this direction. And what does Kevin Kühnert do, his uneven relationship with Scholz in the fourth episode of the series documentary Kevin Kühnert and the SPD is well occupied? Happy, makes the U-turn effortlessly with you. Scholz “stands for something unmistakable,” he praises. Then he helps the left duo Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans to become the SPD party chairman. And Scholz goes under.
There are some things that one would wish for differently in the NDR six-part series by Katharina Schiele and Lucas Stratmann, for example one or two episodes less. On the other hand, what emerges very clearly and almost frighteningly is the tremendous strategic talent of Kevin Kühnert. For three years, from October 2018 to the memorable September 2021 – the series was only allowed to be broadcast after the federal election – the two filmmakers accompanied Kühnert, who was then Juso chairman, later SPD vice-chairman and now member of the Bundestag.
What you see: a not very tall, quite chubby young man
You have seen him make hundreds of phone calls, write text messages and give interviews, while having a potato salad with the Jusos in Trier and while smoking, again and again while smoking: a not very tall, chubby-cheeked young man who wears his shirt over his trousers and knows exactly how to up the debate and how to bring it down again.
The one who mobilized against the Groko was bold, the one in one Time-Interview spoke of “collectivization” who is not afraid of either the word “socialism” or the word “power”. The FAZ called him “election fright”, the mirrors wrote of the “Kühnert explosive unit”. Kühnert would rather not be seen by Franz Müntefering at Berlin Central Station. Once in the office, Kühnert reported, almost astonished, that he was bullied twice on the way to work. At that time, the SPD was almost in the single digits.
Once, during an argument, Hubertus Heil said: “There are too many microphones here.”
You see a restless man, but not a berserk. At the height of the allegations against party leader Andrea Nahles, he says he has no desire for an interview because it is only about “personal shit”. On the other hand, with moments like this, the film evokes exactly the impression that Kühnert undoubtedly wants to achieve. Katharina Schiele and Lucas Stratmann do not show him at internal meetings. When Kühnert and the Jusos argue with Hubertus Heil at a full party congress about the lifting of sanctions for violations by Hartz IV recipients, Heil says: “There are too many microphones here.”
At best, you get an idea of how politics are made, and judging by the scenery, it’s a joyless thing. Drafty balconies, bare offices, conference rooms of disarming nudity. When Kühnert applies for the chair as party vice president, he increases himself to a highly emotional speech, performs a little trick with a red sock (right defamation of the left) and a blue sock (true character of the right), and then literally rips off the comrades from the seats with the promise that the party can once again broadcast what it deserves to broadcast, if, yes, if only all those hold together who have the “future in their hearts”. When Kühnert hands over the Juso chairmanship, tears come to him. But that was it again with the big emotions.
Until, yes, until this fall, of course. The attraction of this long-term documentation lies in the fact that one and a half weeks ago the perspective was so completely reversed that the experienced SPD writers would have to ponder at least as much as Armin Laschet. Kühnert made an iron election campaign for Scholz, whom he seriously described as the “power bar” of the election. Now you can see him next to Hubertus Heil, both of whom have made it into the Bundestag, Kühnert, who was born in West Berlin, for the Berlin constituency of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. “When you think about where we started,” he says to Heil. And looks straight into the camera. Even at this moment, the film comes as close to Kevin Kühnert as Kevin Kühnert wants it to be.
“Kevin Kühnert and the SPD”, ARD media library and at midnight on the NDR.