My Blind Date with Life

At fifteen Saliya loses nearly all of his sight, with only a small fraction left. He wants to train in hotel management but knows he will not be accepted as a blind man. So he does not tell anyone. He starts an apprenticeship at a five-star hotel in Munich and works while concealing his condition. The subject is not disability but the exhaustion of concealment. Saliya memorises table layouts, counts out walking routes and calculates constantly to fool his colleagues. The film shows that the real burden is not failing to see but pretending to. The form sits between comedy and drama; the kitchen and service scenes move fast, the night passages are quiet. The director does not make the camera perform blindness and almost never resorts to a blur effect. The source is Saliya Kahawatte's own autobiographical book. Kahawatte is now an entrepreneur and an advocate for blind and partially sighted people, and appears briefly in the film. Marc Rothemund directs, previously known for Sophie Scholl. Kostja Ullmann plays Saliya, Jacob Matschenz his flatmate and Anna Maria Mühe the woman he meets at work. Who it is for: viewers who like German drama adapted from true stories. Who it is not for: anyone expecting the difficulty of the subject taken to the end; in places the film finds its solutions too easily.