When one of her students is suspected of theft, teacher Carla Nowak decides to get to the bottom of the matter. Caught between her ideals and the school system, the consequences of her actions threaten to break her.
Trailer
Reviews
BornKnight
8
By BornKnight
German drama film directed by İlker Çatak, and that is nominated for best international movie for the 96th Academy Awards.
Leonie Benesch as Carla Nowak, and idealist Polish immigrant teacher have a suspicion of theft at her 1st grade school raised by one of the student towards another (immigrant Turk) student.
After this incident and the reunion with the father of the boys she withstands another small theft at the teacher lounge, and after that she decides to mount a trap to confirm her suspicions putting her coat with the wallet and some money and laptop to film. The money is stolen but only the sleeve of the robber is seen - the sleeve with a unique painting that another functionary on the teacher lounge uses, and she aboard her (that is mother of another immigrant student).
From this pretext the movie delves into a suspicion web mixed with xenophobia and student pro and against the late case boy that divide opinions and breaks the fragile peace that the school once had, including with some more radical students that oppose order and make false statements.
The movie is engaging and the web of suspense got me till the end, and it is a nice entry to best international movie. I would rate it a 8.0 out of 10 / A - as a whole.
CinemaSerf
6
By CinemaSerf
There's a spate of petty thefts going on in her junior school, so after a rather dubiously executed class search fails to deliver a culprit, the enthusiastic and maybe a little naive teacher "Miss Novak" (Leonie Benesch) sets a video trap to see if she can identify the culprit. She does, potentially, identify someone going through her pockets and headmaster "Böhm" (Anne-Katrin Gummich) now tries to deal with a scenario that rapidly spirals out of control and reveals an increasing degree of toxicity for not just this teacher, but for relationships at all levels throughout the school - as well as a fairly counter-productive environment of red-tape. We are soon facing a stand-off situation that borders on the criminal with some surprisingly potent battle lines soon drawn both inside and outside of the teacher's lounge. I had credibility issues with what happens now. It's not that the drama isn't well acted and tautly directed, indeed the young Leonard Stettnisch's portrayal of her student-cum-antagonist "Oskar" is really effective. It is just that too much of what occurs struck me as preposterous. Any procedures in place to protect teachers and pupils seems to gave been chucked under the dramatic bus and the absence of police or qualified investigative authorities here just didn't ring true as we made our way to a denouement that I felt rather underwhelmed. It's gripping, and well worth a watch - but plausible? Hmmm, I'm not so sure.
Norsk
N/A
By Norsk
A warning: This movie is all about the journey. There is no payoff in the end so don't stick around hoping for a nice tidy conclusion. Instead, you will feel the same frustration as the teacher does which I think is exactly what the director was going for in this movie.
Having that out of the way, the basic premise is a school dealing with a thief. The main character (a teacher) gets strong evidence but not conclusive proof as to who the thief is. Mayhem then ensues as the teacher's life spirals out of control.
