Director Andre Schafer’s amusing documentary about Richard David Precht is based on the autobiographical novel by the famous philosopher, author and journalist. The film portrays Precht’s childhood and youth during the late ’60s and early ’70s in his radically left-wing parental home in Solingen.

Precht’s father read Marx and Engels, while the young David mistook these bearded men for a famous animal lover. The family attempted to create a small left-wing universe in the midst of a capitalistic enemy country and saw the German Democratic Republic as a land of dreams. In protest against the Vietnam War, David’s parents adopted two Vietnamese orphans. The children tried to emulate their parents’ world view, even though it meant going without colour television, Coca-Cola and Star Trek. David developed his own version of this utopia, in which the GDR is a gigantic and heavenly zoo protected by a high wall.

Besides David Precht, the film also features other family members as well as a witty use of archive footage and re-enacted scenes.