DEUTSCHSTUNDE

Germany, just after the Second World War. Siggi Jepsen, a young man in juvenile detention, has to write an essay on “The Joys of Duty”. He can’t get started, the paper stays blank. When he has to repeat the exercise the next day, this time in a cell as punishment, he writes his memories like a man possessed. Memories of his father Jens Ole Jepsen, a police officer who was one of the authorities in a small, north German village and dedicated himself totally to the duties of office. During the war he had to issue a ban on painting to his childhood friend, the Expressionist artist Max Ludwig Nansen, imposed on him by the National Socialists. He oversees it meticulously and Siggi, 11-years-old at the time, is told to help him. But Nansen resists – and likewise builds on Siggi’s help, who is like a son for him. The two men’s conflict continually escalates – and Siggi stands between them. Fitting in or resistance? This becomes the decisive question for Siggi...