Dir: Killian Armando Friedrich. Germany. Drama. 93’
Review by Meredith Taylor
You can’t get the staff nowadays. Or at least that is what’s implied from this German feature from Killian Armando Friedrich that once again illustrates the desperate state of affairs for the 21st century workforce.
In Germany Heike Kamp is a cleaning contractor who has the daily grind made worse by her shoddy and inefficient staff. The margins are tight in this business, like any other nowadays, and she fears losing out to competitors. The people that work in the businesses she cleans are a filthy lot; her job would be much easier if they left the environment as clean as they found it. It’s a no win situation.
Heike has a bright idea to sub-contract to another company but that turns out not to be so bright, as we later discover in this tortuous but all too familiar state of affairs.
Home life isn’t much brighter: Heike still lives with her ex-partner who is experiencing panic attacks particularly when the local authority turns up to check that requisite terms are being met for her rental agreement. All very relatable.
With its close-up camera racing around to follow the action this is a dour and dispiriting docudrama that demonstrates how little the workplace has changed over the past few centuries. But why should things get any better when human greed prevails and profit margins increasingly tighten?
Workers’ rights have considerably improved since the 19th century but with burgeoning commercialisation and a growing population due to improved medical treatment and better living standards, this is not going to change life until human nature improves and the banks stop ripping us off. With its unwieldy title this Berlinale Panorama feature is not particularly entertaining or cinematic but highly relatable and worthwhile for the subject it once again hammers home.
BERLINALE 2026 | PANORAMA on 22 February 2026