"In Sachen Kaminski" is a great movie about a mentally handicapped married couple fighting for their right to raise their own child.
So the story is very similar the Hollywood movie "I am Sam" (2001) with Sean Penn. One difference is that this movie is based on a true story, which it follows pretty closely, too. But that's not what makes this movie far superior to the Hollywood installment. The refreshing thing about "In Sachen Kaminski" is that the filmmakers seemed to rely on the powerful and highly important story itself and aside from that, they paid attention to depicting the characters and events as realistically and believable as possible. That means there are no manipulative tear jerking moments or one dimensional antagonists with hidden agendas or stupid dialogs where the cute-and-wise-in-their-own-way retarded people teach the others clichéd lessons about life. There are however very emotional moments involved, as well as some great acting, especially by the parents, who - major acting awards in mind - don't go "full-retard".
This movie gives food for thought and says a lot about the good intentions and not so good results of the German bureaucratic social welfare system. It makes its point after the disappointing international PISA-scores of German high school students, which resulted in an educational paradigm shift, that tended to become a perversion of a performance oriented educational system. Well... actually the movie makes this point a lot clearer than i made it in the last sentence.
Enjoy!
