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Otomo

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Otomo (2001)

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Reviews Counted: 10

Fresh: 10

Rotten:0

Average Rating: 7.4/10

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 85 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Nov 7, 2001 Limited

Synopsis: Frieder Schlaig's powerful drama OTOMO reimagines the story of a Cameroon refugee's tragic life in Stuttgart. Frederic Otomo, played brilliantly by Isaach de Bankolé, lives in a tiny, dirty room.... Frieder Schlaig's powerful drama OTOMO reimagines the story of a Cameroon refugee's tragic life in Stuttgart. Frederic Otomo, played brilliantly by Isaach de Bankolé, lives in a tiny, dirty room. When he goes out looking for work, he is teased and ultimately rejected because of his color. He is trying to make a life for himself in Germany, but an overt racism is holding him down. Then one day he is harassed by a ticket checker on the subway and he reacts violently and runs away. As a police manhunt gets under way, Otomo searches for help; desperate, he befriends a young girl to force her mother to give him money. Later than same morning, everything comes to a bloody end on the Gainsburger Bridge. OTOMO is based on a true story; the subway incident, which occurred at 6:14 on the morning of August 8, 1989, and the finale on the bridge, which happened less than three hours later, are based on official police reports. All the events that happened between those times have been created by Schlaich and playwright Klaus Pohl. They portray Otomo as a simple, quiet man who is slowly filling with rage as he is treated like an unwanted stranger in the country in which he was born. Bankolé is outstanding in the lead role, perfectly capturing a shattered man on the verge of exploding, and he receives terrific support from Eva Mattes as a young grandmother who must decide whether to risk her own life by helping him. [More]

Starring: Isaach de Bankole, Eva Mattes, Hanno Friedrich, Barnaby Metschurat

Starring: Isaach de Bankole, Eva Mattes, Hanno Friedrich, Barnaby Metschurat, Lucia Schlor, Katja Schmidt-Oehm, Stefan Moos, Lara Kugler, Sigrid Burkholder

Director: Frieder Schlaich, Irene von Alberti

Director: Frieder Schlaich
Screenwriter: Klaus Pohl
Director: Irene von Alberti
Composer: Freundeskreis

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Nov 28, 2006

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Reviews for Otomo

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Full Review Source: BlackFilm.com | comment Comment
05/13/03
Wilson Morales
BlackFilm.com

The film doesn't believe the police deserved to die (or that the ticket inspector should have been assaulted), but then again it doesn't believe a society should so treat a man that this is what he comes to do.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
12/14/01
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Although Otomo is clearly intended for German audiences, the film nevertheless raises issues confronted by every Westernized nation.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
12/09/01
Maria Garcia
Film Journal International

Racial profiling is alive and well, not just in real life, but more and more at the movies.

Full Review Source: WBAI Web Radio | comment Comment
12/08/01
Prairie Miller
WBAI Web Radio

A riveting German film about the dehumanized treatment of refugees.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
11/23/01
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Much of the sense of size in this account of an immigrant worker, who is only one among many thousands in Germany, comes from the performance by Isaach de Bankole.

Full Review Source: New Republic | comment Comment
11/14/01
Stanley Kauffmann
New Republic
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The messages about racism get a bit ham-handed, but the acting and sense of dread are powerful.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
11/08/01
John Anderson
Newsday
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You do get a sense of a German society that is still amazingly bureaucratic and authoritarian.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
11/08/01
Jonathan Foreman
New York Post
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A bleak and powerful work, one we probably need more than ever these days.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
11/07/01
Elvis Mitchell
New York Times
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Documents the institutionalized racism and xenophobia that painted one man into a corner, while never excusing the terrible means by which he took his final escape.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
11/06/01
Jessica Winter
Village Voice
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

I was impressed by the decision to make Otomo a bit of an anti-hero, seeming aware that in desperate times, good people may say or do things outside the norm.

Full Review Source: Greg's Previews at Yahoo! Movies | comment Comment
05/15/01
Greg Dean Schmitz
Greg's Previews at Yahoo! Movies
 
 
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