Sanctuary

A defiant 14-year-old Wolfgang from Osnabrück is sent to the Freistatt Christian educational center after the Youth Office intervenes when he shows his father's pornography to his friends. His mother promises to take him back at Christmas, and he even takes a photo of her to Freistatt. The move marks the start of a harsh, tearing chapter in his life.

Housefather Brockmann greets Wolfgang in the garden and reads loudly from his juvenile file. The Youth Office labels him aggressive, renitent, and disobedient, and Wolfgang defensively argues that he has always stood up for himself. The first impressions set the tone for his treatment at Freistatt.

The home operates like a barracks where leaders are called 'brother' and Brockmann has run the place for decades. The regime emphasizes obedience and control under a Christian frame. This environment foreshadows the harsh punishments Wolfgang will endure.

Wolfgang is used for Mattis and punished by Bernd as part of the group’s discipline. Afro-German Anton approaches Wolfgang and reveals he is from Osnabrück, forging a fragile kinship. The social dynamics inside Freistatt begin to shape Wolfgang’s alliances.

Wolfgang and the other boys toil in the peat mire, a punishing routine that tests endurance. When he complains about not receiving boots, Brother Wilde beats him with a spade. A first escape attempt ends in confusion in the mire, underscoring the danger of leaving Freistatt.

Instead of targeting a single offender, the householder imposes punishments on the whole group, rationing food or banning smoking. He reserves the power to allow the pupils to punish the 'guilty one' themselves, then consoles them afterward. The system fosters fear, resentment, and a sense of collective responsibility.

Wolfgang sends a letter to Angelika, the house father’s daughter, asking his mother to bring him home because he cannot bear the place. Angelika tells her father she was approached, but she also claims the letter as her own. The exchange reveals strain between Wolfgang, his family, and the house staff.

Wolfgang receives a Hedgehog slice from his mother for his birthday, a small token from home. The housefather keeps the Hedgehog slice for himself and consumes what Wolfgang had discovered, while Bernd seizes Wolfgang’s hope by burning away his mother’s photo. The acts underscore the severing of ties to home.

During recreation, the pupils resist when Brother Wilde tries to confiscate the trunk radio. Anton leads with a Gospel song, 'Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,' triggering a chant of 'Freedom' from the group. The moment marks a rare collective stand inside the institution.

On Christmas Eve, Brother Krapp, who had seemed understanding, leaves Freistatt, and it is revealed he sexually abused Mattis. At the service, Angelika hands Wolfgang a bell bag containing the house key, but his attempt to intervene is blocked by his father. The revelations expose deep abuse and shattered trust within the home.

In the basement, Wolfgang is chained from the ceiling, barely conscious, and experiences visions. A beach memory with his mother hints at an incestuous dynamic, amplifying the trauma he endures. The scene deepens the emotional scars that drive his later actions.

In a Moor confrontation, Wolfgang injures Brother Wilde’s eye with a spade and flees with Anton. They reach Osnabrück, but Anton reveals he is not really from there and has no family. Wolfgang refuses to take him home, signaling his growing isolation.

Brockmann unexpectedly appears and takes Wolfgang back to Freistatt, while Anton has already been taken up. The cycle of return and punishment continues as the system reasserts control. A sense of inevitability hangs over Wolfgang’s fate.

One day Wolfgang is released because his stepfather has been fatally injured. He returns to his mother’s home, but the reunion is tense, with old wounds and unresolved issues lingering. The family dynamics remain fragile as Wolfgang tries to re-enter life beyond Freistatt.

Wolfgang borrows money from a former friend and slaps him when the man tries to touch his cake, signaling anger and mistrust. In a closing image, he rides a train with an ambiguous destination, passing Freistatt and watching the draisines carrying the others, suggesting an unsettled, uncertain future.