Heimat ist kein Ort (2015)

The Kurbjuweit siblings—Inge (54), Klaus (53), and Uwe (44)—are not in contact with one another. After their mother died, their father sent them away to a children’s home. Uwe in particular, the youngest, who grew up with various foster families, has never got over the fact that his older siblings never looked after him. Inge had a child very young and, because she raised her daughter Jule on her own, had to abandon the medical studies she had started. In her nursing career, she rose to become head nurse at a hospital. She now projects all her unfulfilled hopes onto Jule, who began studying medicine at her mother’s urging. Klaus had made his living as a taxi driver, but has just lost his license after being caught driving under the influence of alcohol. His wife has thrown the now-unemployed alcoholic out. Uwe, a gay bachelor, earns a living with his dog-walking service for working dog owners; so far, his search for a lasting relationship has been unsuccessful. After receiving calls, all three meet again after many years. Their father, with whom they had lost contact, has died. The siblings and Inge’s daughter appear before a notary to hear the will. There, they learn that they can inherit only if they fulfill the deceased’s final wish. Within 14 days, they must travel together to Poland to scatter his ashes at places he specified in his old homeland of East Prussia. The young Polish notary Krzysztow accompanies them on their journey from Germany to Poland to check and document that everything is done according to the final wish. They set off in a converted police van, with Klaus at the wheel; no one knows that he has had to surrender his driver’s license. The route is precisely laid out: it takes them through Frankfurt (Oder), Poznań, Bydgoszcz, and Olsztyn to Mikołajki, their father’s birthplace. Among the papers Notary Krzysztow gives the family, alongside their father’s notes, is a 1936 photograph of an impressive villa in Mikołajki. The siblings’ initial reluctance gradually fades as they begin to hope for what seems like a valuable inheritance. At some point, they also ask where their father’s ashes actually are. Klaus had taken care of everything; instead of applying for an export permit, he had simply transferred his father’s remains from the urn into a coffee tin. Notary Krzysztow witnesses how badly the siblings treat one another, and finds common ground for conversation only with Inge’s daughter, Jule. The first place where their father’s ashes are to be scattered is a bridge where his father died during the Second World War. The siblings carry this out disrespectfully and amid an argument. Shortly afterward, the trip is over for everyone. During a police check, Klaus is found to have a blood alcohol level of 0.9 per mille. When the others learn that he was also driving without a license, they turn on one another and attack the two Polish police officers as well. The officers take all of them into custody except the notary. After a night in a cell, the Polish police show mercy and release them. The notary, however, gives them their first serious talking-to about behaving decently. The siblings slowly grow closer as they learn more and more about their father’s fate: as a child, he lost first his father and then his mother. A romantic relationship begins between the young notary and Jule. Krzysztow takes the four to his sister’s wedding, where his ex-girlfriend throws herself at him, which Jule completely misunderstands. At the celebration, Inge enjoys the attention of the charming Jurek, while Klaus and Uwe drown their loneliness in alcohol and end up, as the grand finale, right in the middle of the wedding cake. Soon afterward, they reach their destination. The villa they had hoped to inherit turns out to be a popular photo spot; apparently, the photograph had been no more than a memento of their father’s beloved homeland. The notary eventually takes them to a half-ruined house where their father is said to have lived. More important to them, however, is visiting the grave of their father’s little sister, who died in 1945. Anna, a childhood acquaintance of their father who still lives in Mikołajki, leads them there. In accordance with their father’s wish, they scatter the rest of his ashes there. They stand at the grave like a perfectly ordinary family; with flowers and tears, they all show decency, respect, and compassion. The journey they took together has changed the four of them. They wish their brother Uwe success in finding a good job and a steady partner. For the first time, Inge tells her daughter that she loves her, and both women also dare to make a fresh start with men: Jule with Krzysztow and Inge with Jurek. Uwe manages to arrange a phone call for Klaus with his wife, after all his previous attempts had failed. Soon afterward, Krzysztow announces that their father’s final wish has been fulfilled and that each of the four will inherit 321.46 euros. They take it with good humor—it seems to have become unimportant. When they see photographs in an old photo album showing their father as a child by the sea, they spontaneously decide to go to the seaside as well. Laughing, they walk together along the beach, and for a moment a little boy in a sailor suit can be seen building a sandcastle. When they turn around once more, he has disappeared.