Lola doesn’t go to the hairdresser’s any more, and she doesn’t want to wash her neck any more either. That’s where her father kissed her last before vanishing into thin air. Since then, the 10-year-old has lived alone with her mother on a houseboat called “Pea”.
Lola is usually a cheerful girl, but in the course of the film she has to overcome a number of difficult challenges.
Her mother has a new boyfriend, but Lola refuses to accept that this man Kurt is supposed to replace her father. She’s an outsider at school, and is teased by the other children. She sits on her own in the classroom, until the new boy Rêbin appears on the scene. Rêbin avoids the other children too, and Lola likes him. His parents don’t have much money, which is why he has to work after school. Lola eventually finds out that his family is living in Germany illegally – they are Turkish Kurds who cannot return to their home but aren’t allowed to stay in Germany either. When the family is threatened with deportation, Lola leaves her dream world and starts to fight for her friend. And Kurt, of all people, is the one who helps her.
Lola and the Pea subtly deals with the complex social issue of illegality, presenting it in a comprehensible and digestible way for younger audiences. Heinemann tells the story about an illegal immigrant family not as a drama but as a comedy. Interest in the subject develops out of the characters – Will Rêbin and his family be allowed to stay? And under what conditions is this possible?