Radio Silence in the Family: When Children Break off Contact (AT)
A family is a stable group of people connected by love and affection. What happens when this primary source of stability instead becomes a psychological burden? Sociologists estimate that approximately 100,000 adults in Germany have completely broken off contact with their parents. In our society, this kind of familial rejection remains a taboo. The members of a family share a common destiny, or so we are told. But is this really so? Is a family a rigid construct from which it is impossible to break loose? Or are we free to decide for ourselves who counts as family, and for how long? This film attempts to offer insight into the reasons why people part from their families, and how they deal with this separation. Is it possible to divorce ourselves completely from our parents? And does such a decision make us egoistic or ungrateful? What does the loss of family due to an individual? Do people come to regret such a decision over time?
