To the limit

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Movie
Original title To the limit
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 2007
length 106 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Urs Egger
script Stefan Kolditz
production Peter Hartwig ,
Christian Granderath
music Johannes Kobilke
camera Martin Kukula
cut Andrea Mertens
occupation

To the limit is a TV film by Colonia Media Filmproduktions GmbH for ZDF , directed by Urs Egger . Production started on July 10, 2006, and the German premiere took place on September 7, 2007 on ARTE .

action

May 1974: It tells the story of 19-year-old Alexander Karow, who began his military service in the National People's Army in order to evade his overly protective father, a renowned chemistry professor, who had asked the authorities for his son to be returned. With his consent, Karow is deployed with the border troops , with the prospect of training in his dream job as a photographer.

The confrontation with the reality on the German-German border with self- firing systems and other mines makes it difficult for him to create, and as a "big boobs boy" he is a particularly popular victim in the harassment of some comrades. Corporal Kerner especially enjoys tormenting the newcomers. Alexander's circle of friends sticks together, and one of the private, Gappa, puts Alex under his protection.

The question of what happens if the enemy, a border violator, appears in the sights of the Kalashnikov , occupies the soldiers day and night. The guard on the death strip becomes an ever greater burden for Alexander. He finds consolation in the girl Christine, who lives with her family not far from the border and with whom Alexander begins a love affair. However, resistance to this is stirring in Christine's brother, a declared opponent of the regime. Alexander, who is a passionate photographer and receives a camera from Christine, uses it on the one hand for numerous erotic snapshots of his loved ones, but also photographs the border installations. But when Christine's brother stole one of these photos and sent it to the West, everything got out of hand. For their safety, Christine and her brother are planning an escape to the West and Alexander is now torn back and forth.

background

Reviews

  • The television magazine Gong described the film An die Frontier as a "coherent east-west drama". In addition, the film is a “lavishly implemented history lesson that captures time very vividly, with an impressively intense playing Jacob Matschenz”.
  • The TV broadcaster ARTE called An die Grenzau an “oppressive film about a dark chapter in German post-war history”.
  • The lexicon of the international film judged: "The well-acted, autobiographically colored film describes somewhat template-like, but very intensely and vividly the complex situations that open the eyes of the young man and demand a moral-ethical point of view."

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for An die Grenz . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , September 2007 (PDF; test number: 111 499 DVD).
  2. ^ Journal film-dienst and Catholic Film Commission for Germany (eds.), Horst Peter Koll and Hans Messias (ed.): Lexicon of International Films - Film Year 2007. Schüren Verlag, Marburg 2008. ISBN 978-3-89472-624-9
  3. ↑ 44th Adolf Grimme Prize 2008, reasons given by the jury ( memento from December 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on July 9, 2010