Apr 12, 2026 12:37pm PT

‘Trial of Hein’ Review: An Intriguing Brechtian Period Drama Puts Memory on Trial

German writer-director Kai Stänicke’s debut feature follows a closeted man returning to his haunted past.

Siddhant Adlakha

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Siddhant Adlakha

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Courtesy of Tamtam Film

Unfolding in an isolated fishing village, Kai Stänicke’s German drama “Trial of Hein” has a nebulous, nondescript period setting, but its concerns are entirely contemporary. We’re introduced to its uncanny backdrop through the eyes of protagonist Heinrich, or Hein (Paul Boche), a gaunt young man who returns by boat after 14 years away. However, no one in the village seems to recognize him — least of all his mother Mechthild (Irene Kleinschmidt), who suffers worsening dementia. To verify his identity, Hein is put on trial by the village elders, resulting in a revealing drama that, although it states its themes rather clunkily, investigates the nature of experience and recollection with intimacy and aplomb.