On the Same Planet

‘Auf demselben Planeten’, GER 2002, directed by Katrin Eissing, 85 min, with English subtitles, rating: 12

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The filmmaker dives into her family’s past where an outwardly idyllic childhood in the northern German provinces of the 1970s turns out to be an illusion. Through conversations with her siblings and depressed mother, it is revealed that Arne – Eissing’s eldest brother – is a drug addict suffering from mental illness. In this highly personal documentary, the private sphere stands for West German society in the 1970s: between the shadows of the National Socialist past and new utopias, it leads to intolerable expectations and helplessness within the family. 

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