Tough (novel)

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Knallhart is the title of a youth novel by Gregor Tessnow that was published in 2004 . The book is based on the story of Michael Polischka, a boy who got caught in a vortex of violence and drug trafficking. It provides an insight into the problems of young people in socially disadvantaged areas of the big city and promotes understanding for all those young people who, like the main actor, have to struggle with feelings of fear and hopelessness.

action

Fifteen-year-old Michael Polischka and his mother Miriam have to move out of a villa in the Berlin district of Neukölln. Dr. Peters, his mother's long-time lover, no longer finds her sexually attractive enough and throws her out. In the new school in Neukölln, Michael is extorted protection money from a youth gang. With his new school friends Crille and Matze, he breaks into Dr. Peters, his former home, in order to be able to pay the gang with the money. But that is not enough for Erol, the leader of the gang. He and his gang brutally beat Michael up more and more often. The situation is getting worse and worse. And so Michael and his mother, who is always looking for new male acquaintances, slowly grow apart. Now the police are also at the door to investigate the break-in at Klaus Peters. His friend Crille, who is beaten by his father, introduces him to the world of Neukölln petty crime and also introduces him to the dealer Hamal. It takes a dramatic turn when Michael defends himself against Erol and breaks his nose in the process. Erol takes a knife in hand to defend himself, but then Barut, Hamal's right hand, appears and saves Michael. Since Hamal finds Michael trustworthy and needs a drug courier with an "honest face", he hires Michael. Michael finds his way in his new role as a courier better and better, but loses his friends Crille and Matze and the relationship with his mother continues to deteriorate. One afternoon he was commissioned to deliver not only hashish, but cocaine worth 80,000 euros. He gets a shocking insight into the world of addicts. After this drug delivery, he is surprised on the way back by Erol's gang, who throws his backpack with the drug money on the roof of a S-Bahn that is just leaving. This makes Michael a problem for Hamal, because the money and wallet in his backpack could lead the police to Michael again. According to Hamal, the solution to this problem is: Surrounded by his wealthy “contractual partners”, he is given a bag of revolver at night on the city limits of Berlin, so that Erol, who is tied up on the ground, can simply shoot himself. Michael is put under great pressure and unsettled by Hamal and Barut (the gun may not be loaded at all and this is all just a test) and, after hesitating all night, shoots Erol. Instead of escaping with Hamal, Michael stays behind and goes to the police alone to make a confession. At the end of the book, his mother picks him up at the police station.

First edition

  • 2004 tough. With a foreword by Zoran Drvenkar, Ueberreuter Verlag, 156 pages

radio play

  • 2006 Knallhart - A Berlin story. Read by David Kross , Berlin radio plays, running time approx. 212 minutes, audio CD

filming

In 2006 the German feature film Knallhart by Detlev Buck was released , which is based heavily on the novel of the same name. Gregor Tessnow and Zoran Drvenkar wrote the script for the film .

Differences between film and novel

The plot of the film and the novel is largely identical. However, there are some differences. In the novel, Michael's mother has no reservations about going to the social welfare office, and the youth welfare office takes care of crille and matzo. Michael is much funnier in the novel and is less closed off. Despite all the drama, the protagonists' black humor shines through. The school and the teachers are given more importance. Policeman Gerber does not fall in love with Miriam, he is just a friendly officer. The drug boss Hamal is not from Afghanistan, but from Syria. In the novel, Michael not only steals Dr. Peters' credit card, he also gets that to Dr. Peters put in his hands an envelope from the bank that contained the PIN. This makes the successful withdrawal of money at the ATM more understandable. The leader of the youth gang, Erol, is not a 17-year-old father of twins in the novel, at least it is not reported. Another difference is particularly noticeable: In the novel, Erol's gang tries to push Michael out of a moving S-Bahn. In the film, a baseball bat scene takes place in the parking garage instead. In both the film and the book, Michael becomes more and more of a perpetrator himself, the more he defends himself against the role of victim. While Erol goes through a contrary development in the film, the book does not deal much with Erol's personality. There is also a major difference at the end of the novel or film. While Michael ponders for a long time in the film whether he should kill Erol with a gun, he is not so hesitant in the novel.

Trivia

The novel Knallhart served as a template for German lessons in many schools.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Based on the foreword by Zoran Drvenkar in: Knallhart. ISBN 978-3-8000-5209-7

Web links