Die Haushaltshilfe

At the urging of her mother, Martina Ondécková, who is from the small town of Giraltovce in eastern Slovakia, has moved to Germany to find a job. The 25-year-old looks after the bedbound Max and his wife, who is in a wheelchair. Martina soon realises that looking after the couple is a fulltime task and that being isolated from the world is not easy. She is lonely and cannot speak German. Caring for the elderly pair is exhausting, but she is conscientious in her work even though she does not enjoy it at all. Her only connections to Slovakia are going to church and calling home from an internet café. Director Anna Hoffmann uncovers an economic gap between East and West that is reflected in this kind of care for sick senior citizens. While Martina has given up so much, the old German couple can afford to have their own carer stay with them. (One World)