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Director: Christian Schwochow, Screenplay: Heide Schwochow, Rainer Schwochow, Germany, 2014, 88 min. German with English subtitles, digital. Starring: Charly Hübner, Milan Peschel, Rainer Bock, Max Hopp, Ludwig Trepte, Peter Schneider, Frederick Lau, Jörg Simmat, Jasna Fritzi Bauer
The evening of November 9th, 1989: East Berlin.
When the GDR regime’s unofficial spokesman, Günter Schabowski, announces (inadvertently) that the all East German citizens will immediately be allowed to cross into the West, the country is in shock.
Overwhelmed with joy, droves of GDR citizens head to their nearest border checkpoint.
There are two major problems: the euphoric citizens don’t realize that they still need a passport and visa to travel, and Lieutenant Colonel Schäfer (Hübner) and his men, Sergeant Rambold (Lau) and Staff Sergeant Hoffmann (Trepte), all border guards at the Bornholmer Straße, have no clear orders on how to deal with the results of this historic announcement.
As the flood of freedom-seeking citizens heads their way, the guards scramble to hold their ground, and what follows is a comedic stand-off of historic proportions. As the night progresses, the crowds become larger and more emboldened, and Schäfer, who has never taken the initiative to think on his own, must act quickly to defuse the situation.
Schwochow’s acclaimed satirical and moving take on one of the pivotal events that signaled the beginning of the end of the GDR, and is ultimately a comedy about hope defeating despair in praise of reluctant heroes.
SELECT AWARDS:
- Deutsche Fernsehakademie 2015: Best supporting Actor
- Grimme-Preis 2015: Grimme-Preis, Fiction
- Hubert Burda Media 2014: Bambi, TV-Event of the year.
Presented with the support of the Wende Museum
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