To hell with it

Karl D. is a convicted sex offender. He is alleged to have committed several horrific crimes against young girls. He has just served a 15-year sentence, but is still considered dangerous. When his brother Helmut takes him in at his home, the rural idyll quickly turns into a seething witch's cauldron. Daily vigils form around the family home, the tone directed against Karl D., but also increasingly against Helmut and his family, grows harsher by the day. Especially Helmut suffers from the enormous pressure, which is also noticed by a group of demonstrating women. They begin to question the meaning of their actions and decide to seek dialogue with Helmut, but also with Karl D. - and thereby threaten to become socially marginalized themselves.

The documentary Auf Teufel komm raus by Mareille Klein and Julie Kreuzer is at first glance an enormously difficult undertaking. On the one hand, the film admittedly does not want to participate in the witch hunt for the child molester. On the other hand, Karl D.'s actions should neither be excused nor trivialized. Both sides, the demonstrating village community on the one hand, Karl D., Helmut and his family on the other, are to be illuminated as neutrally as possible. That this has been achieved is not only thanks to the two filmmakers, but also to the protagonists, who have agreed to be accompanied by the camera.

The result is a harrowing testimony to the decay of a community, but also a critical look at our legal system and at the human spirit, which can reveal its particularly dirty side in the face of threat. The sometimes very moving interviews with demonstrating women who have themselves been victims of violent acts and who are reminded again of these traumatic events by Karl D. make the protest against the sex offender quite understandable. On the other hand, the sometimes just plain sleazy and abysmally vicious behavior against Helmut and his family, but especially against the women who try to mend fences by seeking conversation, is just repulsive, cowardly, and inexcusable.

With each passing minute, more and more trepidation spreads and the viewer can literally feel the situation getting worse and worse and soon it is clear: even if Karl D. would have to go back to prison and Helmut and his family move away, life in this village will never be the same again. Precisely because the view of the filmmakers remains little judgmental and rather neutral, the film achieves an extremely high emotionality, does not seem manipulative or permeated by one-sided morality. Quietly and subtly it is revealed how important it is to preserve humanity even in the face of terrible crimes. An extremely moving documentary that will probably leave no one really cold - and that's exactly why Auf Teufel komm raus is absolutely worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp