Xhafer (Mišel Matičević) finds a dead rat by his garden gate. He isn‘t invited to a meeting about a project he is supposed to lead. His wife (Sandra Hüller) says that it doesn‘t necessarily have to do with racism. Maybe the people just don‘t like him. Xhafer, in his mid 40s and of Bosnian heritage, has three children, a German wife, a medium-sized home in one of those German suburbs, and a well paying academic job, but he can‘t let go of the feeling that someone or everyone is targeting him. The film EXIL, directed by Visar Morina, who migrated to Germany from Bosnia at age 15, is a slow, creeping psychological thriller about subtle racism, the male inability of showing weakness, and toxic work envirionments.

Tom Dorow