Kaiserslautern in the summer of 1994. Ten-year-old Christian grew up here in poor conditions. He later wrote down his experiences in a book that has now become the basis for a film.
A childhood in a run-down apartment building in Kaiserslautern. Poverty is accompanied by violence and alcohol. The father hits the children – repeatedly, brutally and physically. The complete downfall begins when the father becomes unemployed and refuses any help: the children starve. The mother dies of cancer at a shockingly young age.
At this point, you would like to console yourself with the thought: It’s just a film! But unfortunately that’s not possible. The “real” Christian was a guest on SWR on Tuesday. Christian Baron, writer and journalist, wrote the novel – and experienced all of this. It’s his childhood.
Education as an opportunity
“My childhood was not a classically unhappy one, despite a violent and drunken father. I had an incredible number of oases of happiness in a childhood that was nevertheless somewhat devastated. And as an adult, I somehow managed to cling to the positive,” he says in an interview with SWR.
The film was shown in a preview in the state parliament on Tuesday evening. In the film, school offers a chance to escape a life of poverty. Christian is recommended to go to grammar school, which he ends up attending against his father’s wishes. Director Marc Brummund hopes that his film will reignite the debate about more equal opportunities and educational equality – in the place where educational policy is made.
In autumn the film will be shown in the ARD media library and on ERSTER.
