49th International Film Festival Berlin

Can, a young dealer from the German-Turkish scene in Berlin-Kreuzberg, is in jail. He thinks about how his attempt to get out of this milieu failed. And although his present situation seems quite bleak – his young family has fallen apart -, there is a redeeming strength in the ruthless manner in which he analyses the situations in which decisions were made. In calm, unhurried images and precise shots, an individual emerges, who by reviewing how he became enmeshed in a criminal world, takes responsibility for his past and who will now be able to act otherwise in the future.

In a world where discussions of apartheid are dominated by a male perspective, this film respects women´s resistance to apartheid, black, white, Indian, with expert use of archival material to enable audiences to see South African history and the complexity of the experiences of violence, loss and political action.

In today´s world economic and social policies cannot cope with real hardships of unemployment and family poverty. Bertrand Tavernier has opened his audiences´ eyes and hearts of children and their families, showing a committed, creative teacher, and a man of poetic search, but also an ordinary „non-heroic“ man, and his anger at the system and regulation-driven bureaucrats as well as his ability to affirm children and transform his professional and private world.