DE 2018, D Mala Reinhardt, C Patrick Lohse, Katharina Degen, E Federico Neri, M Macarena Solervicens, S Kate Blamire, Gerald Mandl, P Kate Blamire, Benjamin Cölle, Katharina Degen, Patrick Lohse, Mala Reinhardt, Kopie Farbe, DCP, 62 min, german/turkish OV with engl. SUB, BC Production

„It’s about us“, says Ibrahim Arslan at one point in the film – he who lost his grandmother, cousin and sister as a boy in the 1992 arson attacks in Mölln and himself survived– “about our stories, our dreams”. One would be hard pressed to come up with a more succinct description of the agenda pursued by Mala Reinhardt’s documentary film THE SECOND ATTACK. Reinhardt gives individuals that have experienced racially motivated acts of violence visibility through her film. She gives individuals the floor, to speak about how they cope with fear, grief, anger and the police’s unfounded suspicion, as well as about the feeling that the general public and media only seem to take notice of them when an anniversary rolls around. The film counters the sustained absence of any sort of adequate investigation of a great multitude of right-wing crimes by showing instances where those affected come together in solidarity. It is precisely in this focus on the victims, on their stories and criticisms of media coverage that the film continually makes viewers reflect on their own role. Why are all these names and faces unfamiliar? What does this ignorance mean? This “us” that Arslan refers to, it includes the viewers too. THE SECOND ATTACK treats German remembrance culture as a problematic, cynical story of the reluctance to engage seriously with the phenomenon of structural racism. (Anne Küper, critic.de, 2018)