Otomo (2000)

100% of critics liked it
(10 reviews)
83% of users liked it
(47 ratings)

Frieder Schlaich directs this horrific look at racism in modern Germany. Loosely based on a real-life incident that scandalized Stuttgart in 1989, the film recounts the final day of a Liberian political refugee. Otomo (Isaach de Bankole) cannot find even the most modest of jobs because of his race.… More Frieder Schlaich directs this horrific look at racism in modern Germany. Loosely based on a real-life incident that scandalized Stuttgart in 1989, the film recounts the final day of a Liberian political refugee. Otomo (Isaach de Bankole) cannot find even the most modest of jobs because of his race. Everyone from his fellow boarding house patrons to his fellow churchgoers treat him with contempt and disdain. His long-simmering rage boils over when he finds himself involved in a scuffle with a racist subway ticket collector. Otomo flees the scene after slightly injuring the man, leaving his identification papers behind in the process. Soon ultra-ambitious cop Heinz is hot on his trail, hoping to boost his career by nailing a "dangerous fugitive." ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 25 min.
Directed By: Frieder Schlaich
Written By: Klaus Pohl
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Nov 24, 2000 Wide
On DVD: Nov 28, 2006

Critic Reviews

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
The film doesn't believe the police deserved to die (or that the ticket inspector should have been assaulted), but then again it doesn't believe a society should so treat a man that this is what he comes to do.
Stanley Kauffmann, New Republic
Much of the sense of size in this account of an immigrant worker, who is only one among many thousands in Germany, comes from the performance by Isaach de Bankole.
John Anderson, Newsday
The messages about racism get a bit ham-handed, but the acting and sense of dread are powerful.
Jonathan Foreman, New York Post
You do get a sense of a German society that is still amazingly bureaucratic and authoritarian.
Elvis Mitchell, New York Times
A bleak and powerful work, one we probably need more than ever these days.
Jessica Winter, Village Voice
Documents the institutionalized racism and xenophobia that painted one man into a corner, while never excusing the terrible means by which he took his final escape.
Maria Garcia, Film Journal International
Although Otomo is clearly intended for German audiences, the film nevertheless raises issues confronted by every Westernized nation.
Prairie Miller, WBAI Web Radio
Racial profiling is alive and well, not just in real life, but more and more at the movies.
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
A riveting German film about the dehumanized treatment of refugees.
Greg Dean Schmitz, Greg's Previews at Yahoo! Movies
I was impressed by the decision to make Otomo a bit of an anti-hero, seeming aware that in desperate times, good people may say or do things outside the norm.

Read all 10 critic reviews

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