Otomo (2001)

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

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