Initiation

Sixteen-year-old Axel has dropped out of school; he has no apprenticeship in sight and the relationship with his family, especially his stepfather, is deteriorating rapidly. Axel chooses to hang out with a gang of neo-Nazis and skinheads, who become the friends he craves. But everything in life has its price. Led by the violent Lippi, the neo-Nazis attack a charitable soup kitchen. A series of unfortunate events lead to Axel stabbing to death Thomas Lorenz, the social worker in charge. On the run from the police, Axel hides in a nearby laundry run by Gustav Tritzinsky. Gustav is eighty, and gay; he is amazed at the striking resemblance his teenage intruder bears to Gustav’s first love, Hannes, who was kidnapped and murdered by the Nazis after Gustav caused the death of a member of the Hitler Youth. And so Gustav lets his ‘burglar’ stay the night. Before long, a weird friendship develops between the two men. Axel makes himself useful in the laundry – under the watchful eyes of the neo-Nazis, who have discovered that their gang-member has befriended a homosexual. Gustav’s friends, among them the transvestite Christina Thuermer, urge Gustav to hand over Axel to the police before any more harm is done. When the neo-Nazi gang is targeted by the police in connection with the death of Thomas Lorenz, the gang decides to kill Gustav too, suspecting that Axel has confessed his crime to him. Now Axel suddenly faces a choice: between his neo-Nazi friends and a more humane, genuine friendship. –Berlinale