Geliefert (2021)

Volker is the single father of 16-year-old Benny and works as a parcel courier. His kind heart makes the job harder, because he also plays a kind of guardian angel for the people receiving his parcels, helping them out with little things, for example. As a result, a delivery route often takes him 12 to 13 hours. To make up for it, he volunteers as coach of an unsuccessful youth soccer team. He used to be a professional coach, but was fired after a serious blunder. Volker’s current job pays so poorly that he and Benny can barely afford the bare necessities. When a notice from Benny’s school says that his poor performance puts his graduation at risk, Volker makes a deal with him: if Benny improves at school, Volker will scrape together the 350 euros for the planned graduation trip. To do so, he takes an under-the-table second job that he can do alongside his parcel route. Benny, however, continues to neglect school and would rather party noisily with his friends. He steals liquor from a gas station, leading to a fierce confrontation with his father and another defiant reaction. Volker also falls into a run of bad luck: he is caught driving far over the speed limit and faces a driving ban; someone steals parcels from his delivery van; later, he himself steals cash from the apartment of Mrs. Stolte, a deceased parcel recipient, even though he feels deeply ashamed of it. His mood keeps getting worse, both toward Benny and toward his parcel recipients and soccer team. One evening, Benny sees his father, while out walking with his girlfriend Sandy, taking vegetables for dinner from a supermarket dumpster. So disgusted is he that he moves out to live with his mother, who had been alcohol-dependent until recently. Benny is completely down for a while and does not even contact his father when he learns that Volker is in the hospital after a workplace accident. When Volker’s boss at the parcel company finds out about the under-the-table work and fires him without notice, Volker is left with nothing. As a fresh start, he leases the run-down clubhouse of his soccer club so he can get it back into shape. Then Benny shows up after practice. He seems to have got himself together and promises to come by more often now, since he will have to repeat his final year of school anyway.