Combat Girls

Combat Girls (the original title is Kriegerin, the German term for a female warrior) is a 2011 German drama film written and directed by . It had its international premiere at the 2011 São Paulo International Film Festival where Alina Levshin was awarded as best actress. It won the best screenplay and best female lead categories and came third in the best film category at the German Film Awards (Deutscher Filmpreis) in 2012. Plot The movie opens showing Marisa (Alina Levshin) dying on a cold shore somewhere in Northern Germany in the presence of her friend Svenja (Jella Haase). The film develops the story which led to the shore scene and follows the journey of the two girls as they move into and partly also out of a neonazi group. As a little girl Marisa is taught by her grandfather (Klaus Manchen) how to carry a heavy backpack filled with sand. Only when she meets his expectations he gives his "combat girl" a loving hug. At that point it is unknown to her that her beloved grandfather used to harass and beat Marisa's mother for being pregnant. Twenty-year-old Marisa still lives in the same town and cherishes her grandpa. She visits him regularly in hospital where he lies ill, dying some time later. Yet on weekends she meets with her gang of violent Nazis, xenophobic working class kids. She and her boyfriend Sandro (Gerdy Zint) violently attack and beat down foreign-looking passengers on a train and even attack a conductor. Soon thereafter police raid her house while she is watering her grandpa's flowers. Both she and Sandro are arrested and Sandro is sent to prison.