The near future - open national borders and no territorial barriers. For some it is a geopolitical ideal, for others an unattainable dream. Those others are at the bottom of society - and their number is huge. Housing, medical care and education are luxuries to them.

A transit zone, here is the place where they live, wedged in between something called European Union - this place is the other side. Tens of thousands are penned in here: a melting pot of origin, religion and language which creates isolation. A ghetto full of despair and anger.

To contain the simmering rage of the others, a police force is employed. The police is united and flex their muscles to intimidate the angry. But the pressure in the transit zone increases and the situation comes close to boiling point.

Volt is part of the police. During a mission an incident occurs: Volt gets into a fight with a refugee and kills him, in the heat of the moment. No one is there to witness the deed, it remains his secret.

The dead refugee is the straw that breaks the camel's back. Meanwhile, the weight of Volt's guilt is crushing, it keeps him awake at night, he sees no hope in ever escaping the feeling. It drives him to LaBlanche, the sister of his victim. He begins to follow her, appears as her rescuer first, as a friend and lover later on, but he remains a liar. LaBlanche, caught between mourning and rage, takes Volt for a friend of her brother's, and regards him as a kindred spirit.

Volt tumbles into the abyss between two worlds, unable to hold on to anything on either side. During the day he is a policeman, crushing the revolt, fighting against the growing criticism his unit is facing. At night he is part of the insurgents in the concrete city, spending time with LaBlanche, seeking his redemption through her. With each day that passes, he sinks deeper into his guilt, losing his identity.

The situation in the transit zone is getting out of hand, the fury of the suppressed builds up to a raging storm. Volt realizes that he will never be able to make up for what he has done. The time has come for him to take a stand, for one side or the other. When he decides to confess, however, the higher-ups are unwilling to acknowledge his disclosure, because it would subject them to even more pressure. So his deed remains unpunished. Can the death of one person justify the uncontrollable escalation of the situation?

augenschein Filmproduktion
Co-Producer:
Les Films D'Antoine
Broadcaster:
Saarländischer Rundfunk
ARTE G.E.I.E.
SWR
Distributor:
Farbfilm
Sponsor:
Film- und Medienstiftung NRW
Saarland Medien
FFA/CNC Minitraité
DFFF
Script:
Tarek Ehlail
Director:
Tarek Ehlail
Producer:
Jonas Katzenstein
Maximilian Leo
Antoine Simkine
Editor:
Christian Bauer
Barbara Häbe
Stefanie Groß
Cast:
Benno Fürmann
Sascha Alexander Gersak
Ayo
Denis Moschitto
Kida Khodr Ramadan
Anna Bederke
Tony Harrisson Mpoudja
Surho Sugaipov
Stipe Erceg
André M. Hennicke

Summary for official catalogues