Twice as Wise

While Serge introduces his best friend Filip, the latter stares into the camera with eyes wide open, doing his utmost not to blink. These are the games the two 11-year-old "new Germans" like to play together. Filip and his family came from Poland three years ago; Serge and his mother fled from Rwanda four years ago. Both mothers feel that their boys should be smart and shouldn't let themselves be lured into a fight, not even when the are called "Polack" or "nigger." When the women attempt to communicate their life lessons in somewhat shaky German, we see how complicated the parent-child relationship can become when the parents don't speak the language of the country they live in. For the pint-sized Filip, a quick sprint home is sometimes the only way to avoid getting bullied. The burly Serge keeps his hands to himself, no matter how much he is provoked, as he is afraid to disappoint his mother or get her into trouble. Along the way, we find out that the director has bent reality ever so slightly, in an effort to test these two friends' self-control.