In 1947, an ordinary German family fights to survive in a wrecked Berlin after the end of World War II. The father (Ernst Pittschau) is very sick, incapable to work and bring food home; his older son, Karl-Heinz (Franz Grüger), is a former soldier hiding from the police, afraid of the consequences of fighting in war; his daughter Eva (Ingetraud Hinz) is waiting for her boyfriend Wolf and goes to the clubs in the night to bring valuable cigarettes and minor gifts to contribute with the survival of her family; and the twelve years old boy Edmund (Edmund Meschke) wanders through the destructed city trying to find work or some food to reduce the starvation of his family. When Edmund meets his former teacher, the pedophile Herr Enning (Erich Gühne), he misunderstands his Nazi speech about the survival of the stronger and poisons the food of his father, leading the hopeless boy to a desperate final solution.
I have just watched "Germania Anno Zero" on DVD and this masterpiece is still very impressive even when you see for the second time (I saw for the first time on 23 May 2001). If the viewer has seen the documentary of Leni Riefenstahl "Triumph des Willens" about of the Sixth Nazi Party Congress in 1934 or the megalomaniac dream of Hitler about the fate of Berlin in "Undergångens Arkitektur", he or she will be certainly more impressed with the totally destroyed and chaotic post-war Berlin. "Germania Anno Zero" depicts the lack of hope, starvation and ruins of ordinary people, mostly women, elders, youths and children, doing anything to survive. This pessimist film is a milestone of the Italian Neo-Realism and it is amazing how the German people were able to rebuild their nation (and Berlin) from the ashes. My vote is ten.
Title (Brazil): "Alemanha, Ano Zero" ("Germany, Year Zero")
I have just watched "Germania Anno Zero" on DVD and this masterpiece is still very impressive even when you see for the second time (I saw for the first time on 23 May 2001). If the viewer has seen the documentary of Leni Riefenstahl "Triumph des Willens" about of the Sixth Nazi Party Congress in 1934 or the megalomaniac dream of Hitler about the fate of Berlin in "Undergångens Arkitektur", he or she will be certainly more impressed with the totally destroyed and chaotic post-war Berlin. "Germania Anno Zero" depicts the lack of hope, starvation and ruins of ordinary people, mostly women, elders, youths and children, doing anything to survive. This pessimist film is a milestone of the Italian Neo-Realism and it is amazing how the German people were able to rebuild their nation (and Berlin) from the ashes. My vote is ten.
Title (Brazil): "Alemanha, Ano Zero" ("Germany, Year Zero")