Berlin around the corner
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Berlin around the corner |
| Country of production | GDR |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1965 |
| length | 85 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Gerhard Klein |
| script | Wolfgang Kohlhaase |
| production | DEFA , Artistic Working Group "Berlin" |
| music | Georg Katzer |
| camera | Peter Krause |
| cut | Evelyn Carow |
| occupation | |
| |
Berlin around the corner is a film produced by the DEFA studio for feature films KAG Berlin and directed by Gerhard Klein . The film was banned in the GDR because it dealt critically with socialism .
It is the fourth film in the Berlin series by Gerhard Klein and Wolfgang Kohlhaase , which is about the life of little people in Berlin in the 1960s. Berlin around the corner was banned in 1965 because the film assumed a generation conflict that was the fault of the elderly. It was then broken off, stored in the state of the rough cut, i.e. unmixed and without music, and only ended 25 years later - in such a way “that the wounds of its creation remain clearly visible”. (Quote from Wolfgang Kohlhaase)
action
Berlin in the 1960s: Olaf and Horst are friends. Both work in the youth brigade of the metal works BMHW in Berlin-Schöneweide. They are bitter about the conditions in their company, in which they have to work with outdated machines and there is a constant shortage of materials. You rebel against the grievances. They only get support from their old work colleague Paul Krautmann. Paul dies suddenly, which affects the friends very much. They are criticized unjustifiably in the company newspaper and feel offended, so that Olaf lets himself be carried away to physically attack the editor in charge.
In addition to professional problems, Olaf also has private worries, so the singer and professional kitchen worker Karin does not reciprocate his love. Only when she notices his persistent wooing and knows that he is serious do they become a couple. The youth brigade finally dissolves and says goodbye to friend Horst: He goes as a worker on a large construction site.
Chronological order
Berlin around the corner tries to critically deal with the grievances of socialism. The film is closely related to a phase of liberalization after VI. SED party congress in January 1963. The development of a critical discussion was initially promoted by the SED . It created numerous works, including not just thinking, I cry , The Rabbit am I , Karla , or Trace of Stones .
In the context of the XI. In the 1965 plenary session of the Central Committee of the SED , any criticism of the state was undesirable. The new first man in the Soviet Union, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, followed a much more conservative course than his predecessor Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev . This change in course by the Soviet Union naturally also had an impact on the GDR and its cultural policy . The GDR was in an extraordinary situation at the time because the state was only half built. The general optimism in film production proves that the new generation felt ready to take on their role in society.
In the course of 1965, a total of twelve DEFA films were banned - this figure corresponded to almost the entire annual production. In this respect it can be stated that the XI. Plenary session of the SED Central Committee marked the end of the new GDR film. As a result, all banned films from this era were referred to as " basement films " or "rabbit films ".
literature
- Ingrid Poss, Peter Warnecke (ed.): Trace of the films, contemporary witnesses about DEFA . Berlin 2006.
- Adge Günther (Ed.): Kahlschlag - the 11th plenum of the SED. Studies and documents . 2nd ext. Ed. Berlin 2000.
- Christiane Mückenberger (Ed.): Predicate: particularly harmful, film texts . Henschel Verlag, Berlin, 1990.
- Henning Wrage: The time of art. Literature, film and television in the GDR in the 1960s. Heidelberg: Winter 2009.
- Andreas Kötzing, Ralf Schenk (Ed.): Verbotene Utopie: The SED, the DEFA and the 11th Plenum, Bertz + Fischer Verlag 2015, ISBN 978-3-86505-406-7 .