What Shall Become of You

This picture was released long before I was born, but the atmosphere seemed close and familiar to me, as if I once lived in that unremarkable town.

The story of a 13-year-old teenager who puts up with the hardships of life both at home and at school will not leave the viewer indifferent. The lack of upbringing, any support of elders determines the actions of Boris, often spontaneous and illogical. Difficulties in communicating with peers, malleability and at the same time cowardice... I just want to reach out and call out "Where are you going?" "What are you doing?" But the boy is introduced to himself... Until a young teacher appears in his life with his own views on the world and the ability to defend these views (sometimes to his own detriment). Contact is not established immediately, through a series of troubles and conflicts. And it is this process of rapprochement, barely perceptible and unobtrusive, that sets the main tone for the entire tape. The topic of the relationship between an adult and a child is presented here in the best light. And this is just one of the reasons why I recommend this film for viewing.

Set in 1984, Boris is about 12 years old and lives in a small two room hovel in the run down ghetto district of Kreuzberg in Berlin. It is an old 19th. century tenement house without a bathroom and his bed occupies the only toilet. His father has long since disappeared and his alcoholic illiterate mother has taken in a criminal lover who grabs the only bedroom for himself when Boris's elder sister finally escapes.

This is the glaring depiction of working class deprivation in West Berlin before the wall came down. Criminal survival is the norm. Education for most kids is a past time before accepting low level occupation and repeating the base experiences of their parents.

A young teacher tries to help the lad and encourage him to climb out of poverty but the establishment is critical of his unconventional approach as he tries to befriend the kids and talk their language. Therein lies the drama as inevitable events unfold but the best aspect of this film is the sharp insight it gives into a way of life that was then so common but is now mercifully less oppressive. Boris is no hero but he wins our sympathy and our hearts as he comes to terms with the reality of life around him.