Friedensschlag - Das Jahr der Entscheidung

The film tells the story of five young men between the ages of sixteen and twenty whose chief pleasures in life include stealing, smoking weed and beating people up. They are a bunch of insecure drifters with a penchant for violence. But these boys are also standing at a crossroads: they must decide between the road to prison or another path that will help them break out of their vicious circle. Two men decide to help these boys find a way of overcoming with their problems. Rupert Voss and Werner Makella are the initiators of the Work and Box Company. These two men both went through similar experiences when they were young. They provide the boys with a positive father image as well as a figure of authority. The two mentors’ own perceptions of the male psyche are extremely important in order to be able to help the lads break out of their old familiar patterns of behaviour and find a new sense of self-confidence. Duck and dive, block, attack. Is it better to defend or to retreat? In the boxing ring, the lads are forced to meet each other’s gaze with honesty and without pretence, and so boxing becomes a way of bringing about the protagonists’ personal development. Theirs is a path paved with joy and sadness, quiet resolution, despair and hope, for the boys are engaged in a struggle against their own worst enemy – themselves. But, unless they fall, they will not learn how to stand on their own two feet again.
TO FIGHT FOR – THE YEAR OF DECISION is an inspiring documentary about one of the greatest challenges of our time, namely, how to turn violence into creative energy.
Production notes