WALD VOR LAUTER BÄUMEN, DER
Category: Feature Film
Director: Maren Ade
Producer: Janine Jackowski
Country: Germany
Year: 2004
Length: 81'
Production Status: completed
FOREST FOR THE TREES, THE
Full of idealism, Melanie, a young teacher from the countryside, starts her first job at a high school in the city. The daily school routine soon catches up with her, her idealism is challenged, things are much tougher than she had imagined. Apart from one colleague, Thorsten, who does his best to make her feel welcome, she has little contact with the rest of the staff, who are all much older and not really interested in new teaching methods.
When she gets to know her neighbor Tina, she seems to get in touch with her new surroundings. But her expectations are not fulfilled as quickly as she would hope. And the more Melanie tries to become Tina's friend, the more Tina starts to hide. The forest surrounding Melanie starts to close in. Melanie begins desperately running in the wrong direction. The Forest for the Trees starts out as an entertaining, well-observed story about an irritatingly overenthusiastic young woman, but ends as a tragic portrait of a desperate human being.
