Die Wiedergänger

The Revenants

The time after. After a catastrophe? A loss? A shock? In any case, after an event which reverberates in the present like an echo from the past. A group of people somewhere in Germany: an aging hippie couple, Ada and Volker, have settled in a hermitage on the edge of a forest with lots of lovingly tended plants and tools. A mellow vitality.

Not far away: a boy, Fabian, who has stepped out of a corn field, wandered the forest in a daze and built himself a shelter. At some point in the story he enters Ada and Volker's life and takes the position of their lost son, Tom. Later in the film, radio news: the sale of field-grown salad, spinach and chard has been prohibited.

Somewhere else in the forest: two musicians, a guitarist and a drummer. A voice-over talks about Ada, Volker and Fabian being on their way to the sea, where helicopters, the military and men in white radiation suits will appear. By then, Ada will have revealed she knows Tom is dead and Fabian is his killer. The musicians are still playing. A film about longing, loss and eternal recurrence.

Source: 63. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Catalogue)