The son of a Holocaust survivor grapples with the possibility of forgiving evil

‘I might have been just like them.’

David Paul is a Jewish American whose mother lost most of her family to the Holocaust and hates Germans. Moving on from a childhood fear in which the monsters under the bed were Nazis, David came to suspect that not all Germans could be evil, and now visits Berlin regularly to try to come to terms with the tragedy and to understand the German people. He has made many friends there, but acknowledges that before any new acquaintance can ripen, there has to be a conversation about the family’s wartime history. Through lucid self-examination David articulates a complicated process of grappling with inherited trauma, offering a relatable if grim view that anyone is capable of evil. Directed by the Sweden-based filmmaker Nils Bergendal, German Shepherd was a film festival favourite in 2015, playing the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and DOC NYC, among dozens of others.