In Russia they were "the fascists", in Germany they are "the Russians". In 2001, the filmmaker's family emigrated from Omsk, Siberia to Germany. In this film she portrays her family, who are colloquially referred to as "Russian Germans" and in official parlance as "ethnic German repatriates". Heckmann expresses a feeling of foreignness in long shots that show the feeling of loss and embitterment from people who are at home neither here nor there. "It's an uneasiness that makes FAMILY LIFE a winning film." (taz.de)
A home in the German countryside, clean and proper. Against this bucolic setting a grandmother talks about the Siberian labor camps and starts to cry.
In Russia they were "the fascists", in Germany they are "the Russians". In 2001, the filmmaker's family emigrated from Omsk, Siberia to Germany. In this film she portrays her family, who are colloquially referred to as "Russian Germans" and in official parlance as "ethnic German repatriates". Heckmann expresses a feeling of foreignness in long shots that show the feeling of loss and embitterment from people who are at home neither here nor there.
"It's an uneasiness that makes FAMILY LIFE a winning film." (taz.de)