61 min
The neighbour, the painter, who tattooed man without a driver’s licence, who could love, who liked music, who travelled to other countries and always accepted his fate. And: Children should never be sent out to do the shopping.
(Karen Lottje)
director of photography: Andreas Gockel bvk
colour grading and sound design: Ulf Wrede
concept, editing, production: Petra Lottje 2025
Videostill
Trailer
Michael Weissbach was born in West Berlin in 1950 and grew up in a working-class environment marked by the aftermath of the Second World War and the political tensions of a divided city. In a family where alcohol and emotional coldness dominated everyday life, he sought support early on – and found it first in drugs and alcohol, later in travel, music and the urge to break out. He has long since accepted and reflected on his overweight body and the uncertainty of his origins. And it is precisely this, coupled with Berlin humour, that has shaped his lifelong sensitivity to social exclusion, societal divisions and, not least, a strong inner attitude towards life.
His biography is also a mirror of post-war West German society: the transition from rebellion to resignation, from addiction to insight. After a liver transplant, he begins to see his life in a new light – not as a victim, but as a survivor and witness to history. The great love that never came to fruition is emblematic of everything that was never fulfilled – both privately and socially.
The film stays entirely with Michael Weissbach, in his flat, in his language, with his humour – and deliberately dispenses with music in order to follow the rhythm of his narrative. Major themes structure his life: family, friendship, body, addiction, travel, music, loss and love. It becomes clear that Micha represents not only a personal destiny, but also a generation whose history is closely linked to the social and political upheavals of West Berlin.
This documentary portrait is an invitation to listen – and a quiet political commentary on life in a city that left many behind.
61 minutes © Petra Lottje 2025