The break

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title The break
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1989
length 118 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Frank Beyer
script Wolfgang Kohlhaase
production DEFA , "Babelsberg" group
music Günther Fischer
camera Peter Ziesche
cut Rita Hiller
occupation

Der Bruch is a DEFA German crime comedy directed by Frank Beyer from 1989.

action

Berlin in 1946: In the cold winter, the former marine soldier and now bon vivant Walter Graf and the criminal Erwin Lubowitz plan the coup of their lives. You want to steal several daily income from the Reichsbahn from the safe of the Deutsche Verkehrs-Kredit-Bank , which is normally paid out as wages. In preparation, they have already rented the upper rooms of the building and opened a fake real estate office in it. So they spy on the area. Since Walter has no experience and in the past Erwin was only allowed to take part in big coups as a handyman, Erwin seeks out the old professional Bruno Markward. He had spent large parts of his life in prison until 1945 - among other things due to Erwin's inability and the betrayal of his first wife, who had since died - and actually wanted to retire. In view of the large sum of money, he goes into the planned break.

The trio initially tried in vain to dig a tunnel to the safe. Groundwater shows up and the young construction worker Bubi, who was supposed to dig the tunnel, is rewarded after a short time and sent away. Bubi, in turn, is friends with the young Julian, but the friendship is put to the test when they both fall in love with the hairdresser Tina. She, in turn, goes out with Walter and Julian sees her in a bar with him, Erwin and the barber Pinske. Through a few incidents, Julian becomes a police student, while Bubi is indirectly involved in the break. He finally succeeds with the help of various people: Bruno knows that the bank building was shortened around 1943, while the vaults remained intact. You will now enter the vault via an auxiliary building. Pinske gets the welding machine from Dombrowski, while the travesty artist Müller drives the getaway car. The next day the newspapers reported that over a million Reichsmarks had been stolen.

Although Walter, Erwin and Bruno exercise the greatest caution, they are soon discovered. The reason is, among other things, the real estate agency approved in the name of Graf and Lubowitz, which makes them suspicious. In addition, Julian Lubowitz recognizes on a mug shot as one of the men he once saw in the bar with Tina. The trail, however, leads nowhere because Erwin has already moved out of his apartment. When looking for Walter Graf, the investigators come to Graf's wife Anita, who does not know where Walter is, but as an anonymous tipster, reveals Pinske as one of the confidants. Pinske in turn betrays Dombrowski and Bruno, whose share of the booty is soon discovered in the grave of his first wife. Now Bruno also admits his deed and reveals Müller, in whose bed Walter is. Bubi, in turn, escapes with Julian's help. Only Erwin seems to have been swallowed by the earth. After all, it is young Julian who recognizes Erwin on the street. Although he wears a beard and has a false passport, he is arrested by Julian.

production

The shooting of Der Bruch took place from March 23 to May 2, 1988 in Berlin and Potsdam . The film had its world premiere on January 19, 1989 in the Berlin cosmos . The film was released on DVD on August 17, 2009 by Icestorm.

The break is based on the authentic case of the gang around Walter Pannewitz breaking into the railroad cash register of the Reichsbahndirektion Berlin in November 1951 and is obviously a remake of the two-part TV series Das Millionending - Rififi in Berlin (director: Helmuth Ashley ) from 1966.

In the film, the events were moved to the four-sector city of Berlin and the Soviet Zone in 1946. Frank Beyer cast his brother Hermann Beyer , who plays Commissioner Kollmorgen, in a major role here, after he had already employed him as an episode actor in Jakob the Liar . Singer Jürgen Walter can be seen as a travesty artist and sings the Tango Tango written by Wolfgang Kohlhaase for Paul .

criticism

The Lexicon of International Films wrote that the film “uses crime comedy to ironically illuminate the contradictions of the socio-political constellations of the time. Played excellently, carefully designed down to the last detail, with extremely funny dialogues. "

For Der Spiegel , Der Bruch was a “ Rififi story” and “a nostalgic detective comedy with a brilliant dialogue (which GDR author Wolfgang Kohlhaase doesn't easily imitate) and a wistful, mocking affection for the (excellently played) post-war Berliners on both of them Pages of the law. German history, started in a burglary shortly after Berlin fell into ruins and shortly before the unity of Berlin broke. "

Other critics called the film "an enjoyable, laconic and socially concise story".

Awards

Wolfgang Kohlhaase received the FDGB Art Prize for the film in 1989 . In 1990 Frank Beyer and Wolfgang Kohlhaase were awarded the Ernst Lubitsch Prize .

The film ran out of competition at the 1989 Berlinale and was shown at both the Calcutta International Film Festival and the Verona International Film Week in 1990.

The GDR awarded the film the state grade “valuable”. The German Film and Media Assessment (FBW) awarded the film the title “Particularly Valuable”.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Heavy boys and their Berlin coups . In: Der Tagesspiegel , March 6, 2010.
  2. ↑ The break. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed August 5, 2018 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. ↑ Crime from zero hour . In: Der Spiegel , No. 9, 1989, p. 232.
  4. ^ Ralf Schenk (Red.), Filmmuseum Potsdam (Hrsg.): The second life of the film city Babelsberg. DEFA feature films 1946–1992 . Henschel, Berlin 1994, p. 316.
  5. ↑ Cf. progress-film.de ( Memento from December 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ The break. In the DEFA database, accessed on August 5, 2018.