Toleranz (2014)

Karoline Benzko, known as Karo, is the most successful player on the HSG Borussia 1898 handball team. The team is coached by Tobias Winkler, who discovered and supported Karo, and assistant coach Helene Gärtner. The club’s main sponsor is Erdgas Real, where Karo is also doing vocational training. The team has just qualified for the European Cup in Amsterdam, and Karo has also been called up to the national handball team. Together with her teammate Jasmin, who is from Iran, Karo promotes Erdgas Real in an advertising campaign with the slogan “Success through fairness and tolerance.” Karo has been with her boyfriend Martin for years. He stood by her during a serious injury, and has now rented an apartment that he is renovating so they can move in together. She knows about his past in the far-right scene, but he assures her that it is over. While Karo’s brother Robert and her mother openly disapprove of Martin because of his views, her father accepts him because he can see that Karo loves him. Before the team leaves for the European Cup, a photographer takes pictures of the team for the local newspaper, including Karo and Martin. Later, at the newspaper office, his editor recognizes Martin in the photos and changes the article into an exposé about Karo’s relationship with a neo-Nazi. Other media pick up the story, and the team comes under pressure in Amsterdam. The sponsor and the club’s management want Winkler to drop Karo from the team to prevent damage to the club and the company’s image, but the coach continues to stand by his best player. Eventually, during a team meeting, most of the players force Karo to choose between breaking up with Martin and leaving the team. Karo then leaves the team and returns to Germany alone before the tournament has ended. Once there, she learns that her brother has moved out because he can no longer stand her continuing to be with Martin. In Amsterdam, the team loses the game without Karo and is knocked out of the tournament. Winkler resigns as coach, and assistant coach Gärtner takes over. The national team coach withdraws Karo’s call-up to the national team. In the final scene, Martin goes to Karo’s parents’ house and wants to talk to her, but she does not open the door. The film ends with a Bible quotation: “Will you really pervert my justice and condemn me so that you may be right?”