Afro-German filmmaker examines hate groups face-to-face
By Dustin Waters
... Throughout the documentary, Asumang, the daughter of a black Ghanaian father and a white German mother, speaks with neo-nazis mid-protest and enters into German villages taken over by right-wing extremists, but it's when she plans a late-night meeting with members of the Ku Klux Klan that you worry she's placed herself in harm's way.
During the scene, Asumang stops by a gas station in the Midwest to ask directions to the evening's Klan rally. The camera flashes a shot of a local newspaper headline announcing that the KKK is in town ...
Later that night, Asumang is shown standing alone in a clearing. A pickup truck tears down a deserted back road toward the film crew. It's late and they're alone. Asumang is met by two local Klan members. Both of their faces are covered and one is dressed in the full white robes and a hood. As she's done throughout the film, Asumang calmly lays out her questions and allows her subjects to explain their fractured logic, reasoning which falls apart with the easiest nudge from the documentarian. Even when faced with outright hate, her voice maintains the same gentle tone as the narration that runs throughout the documentary ...
Earlier in the film, Asumang is asked why she would even choose to speak with people who consider her an abomination. The question comes during her talk with Esther Bejarano, who was imprisoned in Auschwitz during World War II. In 1941, her parents were deported from their home in Breslau and killed along with 1,000 other Jewish citizens in a mass execution. For Bejarano, forgiveness is impossible and the thought of speaking with those who hold on to the ideals set forth by the Nazis is unimaginable. For Asumang, the search for understanding is necessary to figuring out who she is and where she comes from. Asumang explains that her grandmother who helped raise her was a member of the Nazi SS. It was never something that the family discussed, but throughout the film Asumang carries with her a photo of her grandmother in uniform. It's difficult to imagine carrying around such an ugly part of one's own family history, but it proves that change is possible ...
http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/afro-german-filmmaker-examines-hate-groups-face-to-face/Content?oid=5472830
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