Welcome to Germany (2016 film)

Welcome to Germany (German: Willkommen bei den Hartmanns) is a 2016 German comedy film written and directed by Simon Verhoeven.

Welcome to Germany
GermanWillkommen bei den Hartmanns
Directed bySimon Verhoeven
Produced byQuirin Berg
Stefan Gärtner
Max Wiedemann
Michael Verhoeven
Written bySimon Verhoeven
StarringSenta Berger
Heiner Lauterbach
Florian David Fitz
Palina Rojinski
Elyas M'Barek
Eric Kabongo
Music byGary Go
CinematographyJo Heim
Edited byDenis Bachter
Stefan Essl
Production
company
Wiedemann & Berg Filmproduktion GmbH & Co. KG
Sentana Film
Seven Pictures Film
Distributed byWarner Bros Entertainment Germany
Release date
  • 3 November 2016 (2016-11-03)
Running time
116 minutes
CountryGermany
LanguageGerman

The film grossed more than US$20 million in Germany.[1]

Plot

The Hartmanns are the former teacher Angelika; her husband Richard, a chief physician; their daughter Sofie, 31, now a psychology student; her brother Philipp, a successful business lawyer who's living in divorce and his 12-year-old son Basti. Richard has problems with aging; He refuses to retire, and undergoes face-lifting with his friend, the cosmetic surgeon Dr. Sascha Heinrich. Angelika is criticized by her husband for her starry-eyed idealism. In a container accommodation for refugees Angelika one day donates used clothes and meets her former colleague Heike Broscher, who gives German courses. Since there are no more staff needed in the accommodation, Angelika decides to adopt a refugee. She discusses it with her family during a meal. Richard and Philipp initially refuse it categorically while Angelika is receiving support from Sofie. Angelika already has an appointment with Bernd Bader, the head of the accommodation. So Richard goes with them and they finally decide on the stand-alone Nigerian Diallo, after previously being presented to several families. Richard is annoyed at work; He repeatedly snubs the ambitious and handsome young doctor Tarek Berger, which one day leads to an indicatory dispute within earshot of other employees. Richard grabs his heart with a distorted face after each of his tantrums. Tarek, in turn, runs a weekly jogging group of refugees, in which Diallo also participates. Richard and Tarek know each other from a birthday party Sofie, when the nine-year-old Tarek destroyed a valuable vase. Diallo, who does handicraft activities in the garden and in the house, has a very good relationship with Angelika. He can not understand many things about the Germans. For example, that Sofie has neither a husband nor children. When Basti shoots a hip-hop video with his friends at school, Diallo acts as a full-time supervisor. The shooting of the video almost gets Basti expelled, but Philipp is able to prevent that. Since Basti also has bad grades, Philipp suggests to the teacher that Basti could accomplish his transfer with a good presentation. Otherwise, Philipp has no time for his son, as he has to constantly fly to Shanghai, where he leads an important project. Once again rushing to his flight, he defies control at the airport and ends up in psychiatry. There, a burnout syndrome is diagnosed. Basti gives a presentation on refugee issues at school, including Diallo, who tells how his village was destroyed by Boko Haram and how he lost his family.

In the meantime, the exalted Heike has organized a salutation for Diallo in the Villa of Hartmanns, for which she has invited members of an Africa group and a circus; a zebra is also present. The neighbor brings the police because of noise disturbance, who also noticed that the somewhat out of joint party for the asylum seeker Diallo was held. Sophie is followed by her devotee Kurt, who sees an Islamist in Diallo and with a few friends in front of the House of Hartmanns organized a "picket" with torches and "security" calls. There is a fight between the two. Sofie has Kurt taken away by the police, who was called by the neighbor, as an intruder. Diallo wants to bring together the two singles Sofie and Tarek, but they tell him that they want to find a partner themselves, as is customary in Germany. The two eventually meet by chance and fall in love with each other. In a discotheque they come across Richard, who "wants to enjoy life" and is introduced to women by Sascha. Richard has since moved out after differences with Angelika at home. Diallo meets him on a bank by the river and tells him to go home to Angelika, who belongs to him. Richard corrects him that at the most she belongs with him. Diallo's asylum application is rejected. Bernd Bader appeals for him, so that it comes to a court hearing. Basti pleads with his father on the phone in Shanghai to come and defend Diallo. Philipp refuses this initially, but then leaves his assistant to lead the contract negotiations and comes straight to court when the judge wants to read the verdict.

With his rhetoric, he still fights for Diallo and proposes to watch the video of Basti's presentation on the smartphone. But this had already happened, as Basti had this idea, and the judge wanted to announce Diallos asylum recognition anyway. When Richard returns to Angelika, while Tarek introduces himself to her, outside there is a demonstration of right-wing extremists again. Meanwhile, Richard suffers a heart attack and Tarek provides First Aid. Diallo is now being monitored by anti-terrorist personnel using a drone camera. They misjudge the situation and send a task force to storm the house. When the commanders see that Diallo is helpful and not threatening, the action is canceled. Diallo's verdict finally turns out to be positive and he is celebrating a party with the Hartmanns, Heike and Tarek.

Cast

Awards

References
  1. "Refugee comedy is German box office sensation". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  2. Germany, Abendzeitung (2016-12-28). "Unsere Besten! - Das sind die AZ-Sterne des Jahres". www.abendzeitung-muenchen.de. Retrieved 2020-10-14.
  3. "Simon Verhoeven Photos Photos: 'Friedenspreis des Deutschen Films - Die Bruecke - 2017' Award - Munich Film Festival 2017". Zimbio. Retrieved 2020-10-14.
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