Joy Division (2006)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Reg Traviss

Writers:

Rosemary Mason (additional writer)
Reg Traviss (writer)

Release Date:

3 July 2006 (Greece)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

The past is a place you cannot escape

Plot:

A teenage orphan fights against the Red Army at the end of WWII and in the aftermath is 'adopted' by a Commissar. Years later he is sent to London during the Cold war to work for the KGB, where he questions his life.

Plot Keywords:

Cold War | Military | WWII | German Army | Soviet Union

Cast

Ed Stoppard	...	Thomas (older)
Tom Schilling	...	Thomas (younger)
Bernadette Heerwagen	...	Melanie
Bernard Hill	...	Dennis
Michelle Gayle	...	Yvonne
Lea Mornar	...	Astrid
Bernard Kay	...	Bothringaye
Sean Chapman	...	Harris
Suzanne von Borsody	...	Mum
Thomas Darchinger	...	Karl
Levente Törköly	...	Gouldovsky
Sybille Gebhardt	...	Stephanie
Ricci Harnett	...	Sgt Harry Stone
Dietrich Hollinderbäumer	...	Grandpa
Marlon Kittel	...	Max

Also Known As:

Der Feind im Inneren (Germany) (dubbed version)
Vörös vihar (Hungary)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

UK | Germany | Hungary

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:15 | Ireland:18 (edited version) | Australia:MA (2007)

Filming Locations:

England, UK

Company:

Dreamtool Entertainment

Quotes:

Thomas: [Young Thomas sees Melanie walking through the park. He runs from the football game to catch her up. She is reading an American comic book] What's that - can I see it ?
[she passes the comic to him, he flicks through the pages in awe]
Melanie: Hans Schaffer sent it to me. He swapped a pack of cigarettes for it with an American prisoner he caught.
Thomas: [flicking through the pages] This is fantastic! Can I borrow it ?
Melanie: [she takes the comic back] No, but you may have it - so long as you have something to swap for it!
[she walks off with a smile leaving Thomas standing]

Cruelties of War

In 1944, the fourteen years old teenager Thomas (Tom Schilling) is convoked to fight in the German Army. He survives, but his town is destroyed, his family dies in a bombing and his sweetheart Melanie (Bernadette Heerwagen) is raped and murdered by the Russian Army. A Commissar brings the orphan Thomas to Soviet Union, and he is sent to the military school. Years later, Thomas (Ed Stoppard) becomes an agent of KGB and in 1962, during the Cold War, he is assigned to work in London. Living with ghosts from the past in constant fear and paranoia, he meets the black Londoner Yvonne (Michelle Gayle), who gives him the strength of joy.

"Joy Division" is a movie with an engaging and very cruel drama of war, and a confused spy story in times of Cold War. If the story was limited to the impressive situation of the survivors of the Russian invasion, it would be excellent. But the part of espionage never works and is a complete mess. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Regras da Guerra" ("Rules of the War")