In this drama from director by İlker Çatak, who co-wrote the screenplay with Johannes Duncker, Leonie Benesch stars as Carla Nowak, a dedicated and idealistic school teacher. When one of her students is unjustly suspected of theft, she decides to get to the bottom of the matter on her own, with disastrous results for the whole school.
Nowak initially seems to be doing the decent thing. The accusation appears that it may be racially motivated, and when she makes a fateful decision to reveal her evidence to the Head Teacher, I, and I suspect most people watching, thought she was doing the right thing.
But then, the situation begins to unravel in an alarming way. I found the hour or so that followed absolutely nerve shredding. Every time Carla tries to help resolve the conflict, it gets worse. It feels like she, and the audience, are trapped in a never ending nightmare.
This works as both a thriller and a critique of the German education system. In fact, you could say that that system represents modern society, where everyone feels entitled to say that most annoying of expressions, “this is my truth”, even if it has no basis in reality.
This thought provoking film is superbly written and features a great performance by Benesch.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10