EXIL
by Shelly Schoeneshoefer

Coming home to a dead rat hanging on the fence door sets Xhafer’s (Mišel Matičević) deepest phobia in motion. It is the kind of fear goes deep beneath the skin. Xhafer soon realizes that since he is the only foreigner at his work that he is being excluded from circles. As non-German, he notices that the team is always referencing where he came from and usually getting it wrong. They never discuss important issues with him or include him in the team. He doesn’t receive important emails. The boss doesn’t have time to talk to him. It begins to effect his family‘s life. He has a short affair with the company’s maid but then gets caught by her son. His isolation becomes apparent when the family’s baby carriage is set on fire and he really loses it. No one understands him. The film’s atmosphere is claustrophobic and intense. The film mounts with tension but has a disappointed and unsatisfying ending. It didn’t really stay true to this question of discrimination or bullying in the work environment.