The man on the wall

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Movie
Original title The man on the wall
Country of production FRG
original language German
Publishing year 1982
length 105 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Reinhard Hauff
script Peter Schneider based
on his story
Der Mauerspringer
production Eberhard Junkersdorf , Nicolaus Richter
music Irmin Schmidt
camera Frank Bruhne
cut Peter Przygodda
occupation

The film The Man on the Wall is a 1982 tragic comedy by Reinhard Hauff based on the story Der Mauerspringer by Peter Schneider .

content

Arnulf Kabe lives with his wife in East Berlin close to the Wall and absolutely wants to go to West Berlin . He allows himself to be arrested at a border crossing and, as planned, is ransomed by the Federal Republic of Germany after a year and a half in prison and in psychiatry . Kabe doesn't think much of the western interrogation centers and services that turn to the emigrants immediately after they cross the border; He sees his West German “interviewers” ​​in particular as lax and infiltrated by the Stasi . In the transitional home in West Berlin, he tried in vain to bring his fellow emigrants to found a group and some against their old state companies ; he even turns up in front of a US barracks to be put through to the "boss" of the CIA - Kabe's concern: war - but is quickly dismissed there too. When Kabe tried again in vain to reach his wife on the phone in the home, the somewhat weird journalist Schacht spoke to him; A little later, Kabe befriends him and finds accommodation in Schacht's apartment by the wall. The amateur radio operator Kabe wants to use it as a base for his overthrow transmitter. He is inspired by Moses (while in custody he studied the Bible passages intensively) and has corresponding visions of the opening of the wall. West Berlin, so Kabe's impression, is not “Germany”, but “the West” (and its inhabitants soon all seem pretty “broken” to him). In West Berlin, however, despite an affair with the artist Viktoria, he misses his wife Andrea, who has remained in the GDR, and wants to go back over the wall. He allows himself to be used by the Stasi as an informant and observes a right-wing group on their behalf that allegedly wants to take action against the wall and division. Thanks to his Stasi contact, Kabe can cross the border at will via a hidden crossing in the subway. With the help of Viktoria's passport , Kabe can bring Andrea to West Berlin for a day, but she quickly realizes that she doesn't feel at home there.

The film was based on the book “Der Mauerspringer” by the left-wing writer Peter Schneider, who presents two facets of a city on only 135 pages: One section of the book is a wistful, precise depiction of the walled city of Berlin and shows what distinguishes this city from other major German cities. The second section of the book depicts the grotesque of the supposedly crazy unemployed Mr. Kabe and his reality: He skips the Berlin Wall from the west to the east and is then admitted to a psychiatric institution and deported to the west. But he jumps again and again, fifteen times in all to the east.

criticism

"A tragic comedy about the absurdities of the division of Germany, the possibilities of which are largely gambled away by a powerless and indecisive director."

Publications

The film started in West German cinemas on October 8, 1982 with FSK approval from 6. The DVD , which was released by ARTHAUS in November 2009 , is 97 minutes long and around three net minutes (see PAL acceleration ) shorter than the theatrical version.

Web links