Francis, a thirty-year-old from Guinea-Bissau, is the only person to survive a boat crossing the Mediterranean without papers. He reaches Berlin in 2015 determined to live honestly, but as an undocumented refugee he finds that legal work and stable housing are all but closed to him. A drug dealer named Reinhold draws him in instead, offering charm and access to a world of nightclubs, cocaine and easy money. Francis takes that path while trying to hold on to the person he meant to be, and the film follows what the city does to him. The story updates Alfred Döblin's novel of the same name to the present day.
Burhan Qurbani directed and wrote the screenplay with Martin Behnke. It is his third feature, following Shahada and We Are Young. We Are Young, and the cast includes Welket Bungué as Francis, Albrecht Schuch as Reinhold, Jella Haase as Mieze, Joachim Król as Pums and Annabelle Mandeng as Eva. The production was a European and African co-production involving Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, France and South Africa, among others, and runs 184 minutes.
On IMDb the film holds 6.9 out of 10 from roughly 4,300 votes, and on TMDB it also stands at 6.9 out of 10, from about 93 votes. A critics' rating of 7.1 out of 10 from 19 reviews places it slightly above the audience scores.
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