„You’ve always been there, you’ve never let me down. And you’ll always be my family“

A comment on La Mif

Loud arguments and fights, but also joyful table football games and conversations about their fears, sexuality and random things.

"La Mif" portrays a group of young girls living together in a children's and youth care. Each has her own story and problems, but they all have one thing in common: they cannot live with their parents. The caretakers do their best to give them a safe home and have to deal with a lot of problems and difficulties on their way.

Partly fictional, partly documentary, director and writer Fred Baillif tells about the life in a childrens care by showing the problems and emotions of each girl one by one and giving the story time to grow. In between, the storyline returns to Lora, the manager of the care, who tries to solve all the problems and do her best to be a person of trust for each girl.

Like single threads the individual stories find their way through the film and become one unit, accompanied by peaceful Bach preludes. While the audience is overwhelmed by the many characters and individual stories at the beginning and the care seems chaotic due to everything that is happening, the context unfolds little by little and the audience gets a feeling of familiarity and understanding. While the film progresses, one can feel more and more pressure being put on the interwoven threads and they almost seem to break apart when even Lora can't hold them together anymore.

The authenticity of the young actresses in combination with the intimate camera work gives the audience a feeling of closeness and participation in their problems. When the movie is over, I am left with a mind full of questions: How can a system set the safety of children and teenagers as its goal when given structures are constantly being torn apart and the major goal, despite trauma, is to return them to their families? Can a place in which you are confronted not only with your own story, but also with the problems of many others growing up, really be a good home? How are the children and teenagers supposed to find people they can trust and overcome their traumas if even the caretakers have to deal with their own problems and work against each other?

Raw and honest, "La Mif" shows the difficulties and problems of a youth care and the system behind it, which sometimes seems to be more focused on the law than on the well-being of the children and teenagers. What I learn from the film is that everyone has their own story to live with and only when everyone supports each other, works together and puts the well-being of all people first we can face and maybe solve the problems.

A strong movie - high recommendation by me! You can see "La Mif" on Saturday, 12.06.2021, 21:30 at „Freiluftkino Rehberge“ and on Monday, 14.06.2021, 21:45 at „Freiluftkino Pompeji“.

09.06.2021, Clara Bahrs