Frank (1991)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Frank |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1991 |
| length | 48 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Hans Wintgen |
| script | Hans Wintgen |
| production | DEFA -Studio for Documentary Films GmbH |
| camera |
Steffen Kießling Heinz Richter |
| cut | Angelika Wendt |
Frank is a documentary film by the DEFA studio for documentaries by Hans Wintgen from 1991.
action
Frank was sentenced to four years imprisonment in October 1987 for theft of personal and socialist property, which he spent in the Berlin-Rummelsburg prison. This film accompanies him during the last few days in this facility, tells about his life and reflects his thoughts. It's February 1990 and Frank is 22 years old.
He is standing at the open window of his cell, looking at a wall, which is why he cannot say what his surroundings look like. The yard in front of it, where the prisoners go for their walks, is now to be made more beautiful in voluntary work. He often stands by the window, because there, especially in the evening, you can quietly pursue your thoughts. But he can imagine one day not looking at the wall any more, even though he will often think back to the days in prison when he is free. Frank remembers how the way here began. He spent the first few days in the people's police station on Senefelderplatz in the Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg district in a solitary cell . He was then placed in custody , where he was held in a cell with several prisoners. That was the worst time for him, because there was a lot of aggression among the prisoners here, as many of them could not cope with the situation. He does not want to experience this time again, because it had a greater deterrent effect than the normal period of detention that followed.
The next day Frank has an “outside spokesman”, which means that he gets a day's vacation from prison and can move freely around town with his relatives. In this case, the relative is Karin, who has known him through the youth welfare department since he was 7, when she regularly picked him up from a children's home for the weekend. About Frank's first release from prison, she tells in front of the camera that he immediately seemed familiar again, just as she used to pick him up from the children's home. But he was very excited and insecure, so that he hardly dared to cross the street. During the walks through Berlin, he was particularly unsettled by the many people and the noise. When he visited his apartment, he was very surprised at how nicely it was done by Erika. When he left her before his sentence, it was really just a heap of rubble. He was very happy about the current state.
Back in prison, Frank tells about his time in the children's home, how he met Karin, about his parents' house, where it was very difficult, and about his grandmother, who told him a lot about his childhood and often showed him photographs from that time. But he doesn't want anything to do with his past today. In conversations with his grandmother, he also tried to find out whether his childhood was really as bad as he remembered it. He developed a hatred of almost everyone who was better off than he was when he was a child.
The conversations with fellow prisoners about the changed political situation take up a lot of time. Everyone is moved by the uncertainty of what will happen to them if they are laid off. Before the fall of the Wall it was clear what to expect in freedom, today they fear being left on their own. Shortly thereafter, Frank was released from prison early on parole . A mediated job as an assistant cook, he already practiced this job in prison, in the gastronomy of the Prenzlauer Berg district he has to start immediately after his release. His uncertainty as to how he will react in freedom is increasing more and more these days. Karin picks him up at the prison gate.
Production and publication
Frank was shot as a black and white film under the working title Social Work and had its release date in the cinemas of the Federal Republic of Germany on June 17, 1991. The dramaturgy was in the hands of Annerose Richter .
Web links
- Frank at filmportal.de
- Frank at the DEFA Foundation