Inbetween Worlds

I saw this film at the Berlinale film festival 2014 as part of the official Competition section, in a venue with over 1,500 booked seats. It turned out to be perfect drama with all the elements I love to see in a story: loyalty, chain of command issues, dichotomy between "them" and "us" where no side is good or bad, dilemma's how would I act myself in such a situation, and so on.

The plot offers several opportunities to showcase the culture clash between the visiting soldiers and the local people. Nice quote from Afghan commander: "Many armies like yours came here and achieved nothing." An even better Afghan proverb I feel compelled to repeat here: "You have watches but we have the time." Apart from the actual story line, the film overall shows that sending military to Afghanistan (and similar places) sounds nice on TV, but it does not work out that way "in the field".

We see three sides of the plot develop in parallel: (1) German officer Jesser whose brother was killed in the same area while leading a small military group in support of an outpost with local military. (2) Interpreter Tarik whose father was killed before his eyes to set an example demonstrating what happens with someone working for the wrong side. And (3) Tarik's sister who follows a technical course on a university, showing promise in the younger generation.

All in all, the three plot lines get an even chance to develop, and offers the opportunity to feel along with the characters involved. It is impossible for us, from our comfy chairs, to judge how realistic all this is, but I'm prepared to allow much leeway for a film maker to get his/her message across in an edible format.