The German actor Franz Rogowski has become a star of the European cinema scene. Hardly any film festival can currently do without a film starring the 37-year-old – not even Venice.
In “Lubo,” which premieres on Thursday evening at the film festival, Rogowski plays a Yenish man from Switzerland. This is an ethnic group of former traveling craftsmen who have repeatedly been excluded and discriminated against.
Lubo fights for his family
The film directed by Giorgio Diritti tells about this. Lubo (Rogowski) is a nomad and street artist from Graubünden who is drafted into the Swiss army in 1939. A short time later he learns that an organization has taken his wife’s children away.
Responsible is the “Aid Organization for the Children of the Country Road”, which actually existed between 1926 and 1973 and, with the help of the authorities, took Yenish children away from their parents. The children were placed in homes, educational institutions and with foster families. They often experienced violence or were exploited as cheap labor.
Lubo knows that he will have no peace until he finds his children. By chance he gets a false identity during the war. As an imposter, he makes it into the society of influential, wealthy people. There he tries to establish contact with his children.
In “Lubo” Rogowski vividly embodies a man who fights for his identity and family, but always has to be on guard.
