Rabia

“The young women try to combat their feelings of meaninglessness and emptiness by joining a system that offers them a strict framework for their lives and, most importantly, a real sense of value as individuals. Their motives are more psychological than religious or political in nature. Here, in the intimate space, the process of radicalization begins, and this is where my film starts. [...] Ultimately, it’s about the question that haunts all Germans of my generation: What leads someone to tip to the wrong side during their life? How is it possible to be absorbed by a system that robs us of our humanity? And, above all, why don’t people break free?

Sonja was 17 when she radicalized, the same age as my grandparents were when they joined the Hitler Youth and then the SS, blinded by an ideology based on similar thought systems to those of terrorist organizations like the Islamic State. I belong to the last generation that personally knows those involved in one of the worst crimes against humanity. [...] This shadow has haunted me ever since, and the question of the allure of evil has become the common thread in my work.”

Mareike Engelhardt