Montreal World Film Festival
2012 / Colour / 93 min / GermanyFirst Films World Competition
PRODUCTION TEAM
Filmmaking : Lars-Gunnar Lotz
Scriptwriter : Anna Maria Prassler
Photography : Jan Prahl
Montage : Julia Boehm
interpreters : Edin Hasanovic, Julia Brendler, Marc Ben Buch, Pit Bukowski, Natalia Rudziewicz
Production House : Matthias Drescher, Philipp Knauss, FFL Film & Fernseh-Labor LB GmbH & Co. KG, Hoferstr. 20, 71636 Ludwigsburg (Allemagne), tél.: (49) 7141 488 84 33, specht@ffl.de / info@ffl.de
Official description of the film:
SHIFTING THE BLAME (SCHULD SIND IMMER DIE ANDEREN)
Ben is given the chance of a new beginning in the idyllic "Waldhaus". As one of seven juvenile offenders he is expected to develop his social skills and experience security in a family-like community. But when he meets his housemother Eva, he is shocked: she is one of his victims. His brutal assault on her was never resolved. Ben does his best not to attract attention, but Eva soon starts to suspect something. "With almost Shakespearean force and a differenciated view, Lars-Gunnar Lotz paints the portrait of a young offender guilty of violent crimes who serves his sentence in an open prison. The complexity of guilt and forgiveness is dealt with meticulously and the often stereotyped profession of the social worker is rehabilitated."-- Joachim Kurtz (Die Zeit)
At the beginning of the
film we see a brutal crime being committed by an animal –like being in a human
form. At the end of the film we see the same person who fully reposes his human
nature and all his human qualities. This film does not only deal with the moral
but most directly with the spiritual nature of a man. It portrays evil and
examines the issues of repentance and forgiveness, where the theme of forgiveness is
especially in the forefront. Eve, being a true professional, chooses to control
as best as she can her personal suffering and the revulsion towards the
criminal who attacked her. She barely holds her restrain not to reveal Ben as
her attacker. She chooses silence and waiting in order to allow the criminal to fully come
to terms with what he has done, to assume the full responsibility for it, to
confess publicly his crime, and to ask for forgiveness from the very center
of his being.
If you ever had a hard time forgiving anybody, this might be a good film for you to see.
Shifting the Blame - TrailerIf you ever had a hard time forgiving anybody, this might be a good film for you to see.
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