Bavaria – Forgiveness is a theme based documentary directed by Dr Louis Lam, a medical expeditionist and cultural anthropologist who travels all over the world to tell inspirational stories about the local people and culture, their views about themselves versus the world, and current issues that reflect much wider influences. The film is about Germany’s turbulent past in wartime and the concept of forgiveness of its past into a modern caring society. It takes us through the Romantic Road through small fairytale towns from Frankfurt all the way south to Munich. The film starts with Charles Sorley’s WWI poem to Germany about laughing at the old pain with a bad cloud until it has peace. It visits the Berger family in Rothenburg ob der Tauber at their 700 year old historic inn in the center of town. The film follows the daughter Lissy through the history of Franconia, the northern part of Bavaria with their feeling as a separate culture from the rest as well as the local cuisine and beers. Together with her father as a hotelier, she also takes us to a pleasant donkey ride through the beautiful hills of the region. The inn introduces a typical family made dinner with the iconic Sauerbraten and Schnitzel. She also takes us to the neighboring small town of Dinkelsbuhl with its heart warming garlic soup and a history of the bi-confessional peace treaty. As a gastro journey into their Franconian cuisine, Lissy introduces dishes like the Schaufele, the shovel shaped pork shoulder, Blaue Zipfl the blue sausage, and Kohlrouladen the local stuffed cabbage. In viticulture, wine making has become more popular in recent years, and the film visits the Kreglinger vineyard for their Riesling. Going further south, the film takes us to Augsburg, where a journalist from the local newspaper, Augsburger Allegmeine, was interviewed for his view on American politics. In the medieval walled town of Nordlingen, the City of Diamonds, Rosemarie Hoedke recounts her experience of the expulsion of German nationals from Transylvania, Romania during WWII. Into the town of Landsberg Am Lech, the film interviews Manfred Deiler, a holocaust historian, about the Hitler Youth that took place there, the Kaufering camp, and the prison where Hitler wrote his manisfesto, the Mein Kampf. The trip ends at Munich and talks about the younger youth nowadays and the food culture. The film ends with a note that the country has become a kinder nation.

Filmed May, 2022.