In Fatherland Kadir F., an Algerian, makes a journey through the sorrowful landscape of the former DDR just after the demise of the Wall. He has just been discharged from a psychiatric institution in East Berlin and at the start of the film he kidnaps his young son from his German ex-wife before setting out on a sad and desperate flight from a Germany which is ice cold, literally and metaphorically. He resolves to start a new life for himself in this chilling country, but soon sees that there is no place for him.Fatherland was made before the macabre riots broke out around the refugee centres, but the atmosphere of latent hatred and frustration is already tangible. In this melancholy road-movie Schüppel has made effective use of the landscape of the former DDR, disfigured by lignite production. He spent months seeking the locations, which he thinks play a leading role: Schüppel sees them as ‘Seelen-Landschaften’. The gloomy landscape reflects the state of mind of the protagonist, who usually remains silent. This metaphorical use of the landscape with a man fleeing desperately is reminiscent of nothing less than Il Grido, the beautifully mournful film in which Antonioni used the landscape of the Po delta for the same goal. The quality of the film as a whole is reminiscent of Antonioni +!+ and a comparison with such a great name from the history of film is not something many recent German films could bear.
