Beautiful, interesting, incredible cinema.
IS THIS FATE?
Von wegen ‚Schicksal'
Synopsis
Divorced mother Irene Rakowitz lives with her two youngest children in Märkisches Viertel, the biggest housing estate in West Berlin at the time. She has freed herself from her husband, but she cannot escape the everyday violence of family life, in which conflicts escalate instead of abating.
Synopsis
Divorced mother Irene Rakowitz lives with her two youngest children in Märkisches Viertel, the biggest housing estate in West Berlin at the time. She has freed herself from her husband, but she cannot escape the everyday violence of family life, in which conflicts escalate instead of abating.
Our take
West Berlin’s most ambitious housing project was built on humanist ideals, and yet some residents remained stuck in cycles of hardship and cruelty. In conversation with one fractured family unit, documentarian Helga Reidemeister points out failures of the present in the hope of a fairer tomorrow.