Shifting the Blame

Benjamin is a young offender. He was sentenced for robberies and for serious assault. A project is offered to him. It puts a household in place of a closed prison. Seven young men will live together there. The idea is that they steady themselves in something like a family. Benjamin arrives. He meets Eva, the house mother. Seeing her, he freezes. Eva was the victim of one of his assaults, and she does not recognise him because his face was covered at the time. That case was never cleared up. Ben tries not to draw attention, but Eva’s suspicion is roused. The film is its director’s first feature and grew out of a real programme of this kind. Edin Hasanović won best actor prizes for the part, and Julia Brendler also appears in the ninety three minute film, a German production Lars-Gunnar Lotz finished in 2012.