idaaning Thanks Brummund for such an excellent work. There should be more such courageous people who can tell the truth at the face of a super-hypocrite society in which we live. We live in a society which has no shortage of Sadists and very unfortunately children are the softest sufferer. I spent a year and half in a Missionary School in West Bengal, Kolkata. I was luckier than Wolfgang because my mother protected me, she did listen to me when I came home for summer vacations and complained that I will die if I go back to the mission. The film is actually so realistic, unlike what many reviewers here feel. I know that because I had been in a similar institution, though thousands of kilometres away. I remember how cruel had been many people in my locality after I returned from the coveted missionary school. There were many who asked why I returned, some suggested that I was kicked out. So I can understand why Wolfgang hit the neighbour he met on the street after he left him home without meeting his mother. Rest assured that such terrible places are still there in almost every country and will be there as long as we don't properly learn to treat others of our own species respectfully.

Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Freistatt" or "Sanctuary" is a German 100-minute movie from last year (2015). For director Marc Brummond and his co-writer Nicole Armbruster, it is probably the most known work of their career so far. But the cast includes some names that have also appeared in more famous project. This refers to lead actor Louis Hofmann, who recently starred in "Die Mitte der Welt", and a couple others I will talk about later on. As for Hofmann, I have no idea why he is being pushed into a role where people want to see him as the next big thing from Germany in terms of acting. I personally feel that he has very little range and his physical acting (in terms of body language and face expressions) feels virtually the exact limited approach in basically every film he is in. And it seems they always write him characters that have to suffer a lot throughout the films. Too bad, he just can't pull it off. So in my opinion, he is one of the reasons why this film here became as bad as it eventually did. Supporting performances here come from prolific actors like Max Riemelt, Alexander Held and Uwe Bohm (from the German Bohm dynasty that has made quite an impact for a long time already), who plays a violent father again, just like he does in faith Akin's new film "Tschick".As for the story, it is very uninspired in my opinions. The problem of the male protagonist at his home are generic and the acting is weak. It's a story and approach that has been done many times, and most of the times a lot better. Then the boy has to go to a boarding school and this is when the film really hits rock-bottom. The events depicted there have absolutely nothing to do with reality and it is impossible that a school like this would exist for more than a couple weeks before somebody intervenes and closes it immediately, maybe puts the head of this institution behind bars. But this is not what happens here. Here we have the violence go over to the young men in there and they start tormenting each other. So yeah, this film is packed with physical and psychological torture, abuse and humiliation from start to finish. The only purpose I see when it comes to the filmmaker's motivation is probably to shock the audience as much as possible in these slightly over 1.5 hours. And hope that the incompetent audience members do not realize that the film lacks any realism and authenticity altogether. Oh yeah, sexual abuse is a part of the film as well, why miss out on that opportunity right? It's almost offensive to victims of sexual abuse and how this film really mocks them with his absurd story lines. And of that isn't bad enough already, lets just throw in an incestuous relationship between mother and son if there is any member left in the audience that isn't disgusted yet by the action. I know I am. Especially because films like this one do not even get made, but also score awards attention that may motivate more filmmakers in the future to come up with garbage like this. 2 stars out of 10 is basically 2 too many. One of the worst films of 2015 for sure and I suggest you stay far far away.

Zachaban I only live a few miles away from Freistatt, Germany, and at least regionally the movie got some attention. "Freistatt" deals with a topic that is not often dealt with in movies, chose original locations for filming and lists some very able actors (Max Riemelt, Alexander Held) in its cast.There is no fluff or filler in this movie, no boredom coming up. But while it is a good "time piece" in the sense that it gives you a good idea what it was like in that particular time and situation, there is no plot that is strong enough to really hold the movie together.Ultimately, I would only recommend it to those who are curious about or have any connection to those failures of the education system that existed for way too long.

Karl Self I saw this movie in a preview for teachers. It deals with a borstal in West Germany the late 1960ies. And basically every crass image that this subject might evoke from you, it's in this movie. Plus a few more. The protagonist, Wolfgang, is sent there because his mother has a new husband and wants him out of the way. Of course, the home is like a gulag, and Wolfgang is tortured every which way. After he is beaten up on his arrival by the bigger boys, another boy, Anton, offers him cookies for protection. Why? It doesn't work the other way round! Later, Anton steals a photograph of Wolfgang's mother and very publicly jacks off to it. Why, oh why? Who does that? A bit later, Wolfgang has an erotic dream about his own mother. What the? What's going on here? The boys are beaten, forced to do hard labour in the swamp, and starved. The sun never shines. One of the boys has a homosexual relationship with one of the minders. The headmaster constantly rides around on his horse as if he was one of the Southron slavekeepers in Django Unchained (the rest of the time he's pruning his vegetables like Hannibal Lecter on furlough). Then, when all hope is lost, another cliché arrives: The foxy headmaster's daughter. In another attempt to crassen up ("to crassen up" = "to make even more crass in order to compensate for storytelling") the plot, Wolfgang eventually almost rapes her.This is essentially an exploitation movie, without the fun.