Dr. Alemán

Summary

Cali, Colombia. The adventuresome medical student Marc Jimenez-Tränker lunges into an exchange year in one of the most beautiful and dangerous cities of Latin America. Barely arrived at the hospital, he has to dig bullets out of human bodies, as the blood drips off the operating table into his shoes. Marc is increasingly fascinated by this strange world that carves bloody wounds in his hospital patients. The kiosk owner Wanda opens the doors to the favela of Siloé for him, a slum quarter with the most beautiful view of the city. This is the place where all the bullets are coming from. Wanda is a rough, attractive and experienced woman and becomes Marc′s first real, but completely impossible love. Marc soon becomes known in the quarter as Dr. Alemán. The German doctor, in his lust for adventure, but not least of all in the delusions of his cocaine consumption, thinks he is sacrosanct. He plays football with the young dealers and mercenaries and imagines – when he finally realises how serious the situation is – he can confront El Juez, the most dangerous killer in the area, in order to speak with him. Marc provokes the very bullets he removed from his patients when he first arrived. Until he realises that the most obvious target will be Wanda.

"Dr. Alemán" is based on letters that director Tom Schreiber received from an old schoolmate from Cali. Schreiber: "′Dr. Alemán′ is an adventure story that tells of the lust for life and experience, of the desire to try everything and take every risk, far removed from one′s own personal socialization."

Source: 59. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Catalogue)