OČE NAŠ

In a story based on true events, Goran Stanković takes us to a Christian Orthodox rehabilitation centre where work, obedience, and prayer are to replace drugs – and the rules are enforced with draconian punishments. Thirty-two-year-old Dejan hits rock bottom in his attempts to go cold turkey. Father Branko reigns supreme; charismatic, caring – and unrelenting. Anyone who breaks his rules gets the iron shovel treatment. Branko recognises potential in Dejan and entrusts him with responsibility. Doubt soon turns into closeness, and closeness into dependence. When a secretly filmed beating goes online, systems collide. The secretive world of what is supposed to be salvation meets the outraged public eye. Low-key and precise, OUR FATHER speaks of the ambivalence of the carrot and stick approach, and of a power structure that provides addicts with meaning – and makes them submissive. Employing images full of eerie silence, the film captures vast fields, cramped cells, and hardened faces as the men teeter between camaraderie and complicity. A powerful debut about control, faith, and the fine line between care and abuse.

Text: Joshua Jádi

Wed 05.11. I 20:45 I WELTSPIEGEL GROSSER SAAL I original version with English and German subtitles

Thu 06.11. I 13:00 I WELTSPIEGEL SAAL 3 I original version with English and German subtitles