The Limits of Patience

Official Selection - World Competition - World Film Festival Montreal
Dedicated judge Corinna Kleist goes against the grain to get juvenile delinquents to walk the line in her Berlin ghetto. She takes a special interest in 14-year-old Rafiq. But how long can she hold out against the pressure from colleagues and criminals?

Juvenile judge Corinna Kleist is not one to leave her work at the office, especially since one of her delinquents jumped out of a window after her sentencing. After her sabbatical to recover from the tragic suicide, Corinna volunteers in Berlin's ghetto of Neukölln, trying to really help her charges rather than just follow the rules, watching one problem-family kid after another turn into full-grown criminals. In one case she takes very personally, she confronts 21-year-old repeat offender Nazir, head of a Lebanese clan that rules the drug trade in Berlin's Hasenheide quarter. She tries to help his younger brother Rafiq, who will be 14 soon and thus subject to juvenile court. She turns the scrawny kid into her own personal crusade. As far as Corinna is concerned, the kid needs a firm hand and tough love if he's going to learn to fly straight. But Corinna Kleist soon has almost everybody against her, triggering a deluge of violence?


Awards

Adolf-Grimme-Institut (2014)
  Adolf-Grimme-Preis
    nominated    Drama Series ()