Am Ende kommen Touristen (2007)

Director:

Robert Thalheim

Writers:

Bernd Lange (collaboration)
Hans-Christian Schmid (collaboration)

Release Date:

16 August 2007 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A civil service worker befriends an elderly Holocaust survivor. |

Plot Keywords:

Poland | Conservation | Civil Servant | Memorial | Auschwitz

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Alexander Fehling	...	Sven Lehnert
Ryszard Ronczewski	...	Stanislaw Krzeminski
Barbara Wysocka	...	Ania Lanuszewska
Piotr Rogucki	...	Krzysztof Lanuszewski
Rainer Sellien	...	Klaus Herold
Lena Stolze	...	Andrea Schneider
Lutz Blochberger	...	Jürgen Dremmler
Willy Rachow	...	Lehrling Micha
Roman Gancarczyk	...	Restaurator Karol
Adam Nawojczyk	...	Restaurator Piotr
Halina Kwiatkowska	...	Zofia Krzeminska
Joachim Lätsch	...	Lehrer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Wolfgang Thalheim	...	Herr Friedrich

Also Known As:

And Along Come Tourists (International: English title) (festival title)

Runtime:

Argentina:85 min | Germany:85 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German | Polish | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

Germany:o.Al. | Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Auschwitz Concentration Camp, Auschwitz, Poland

Company:

23/5 Filmproduktion GmbH

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Metropolis: Cannes 2007 - Special" (2007)

An amazing piece of (hi)story-telling

"Am Ende kommen Touristen" (literally: "In the end it's tourists coming") is more than a film about Auschwitz today. Actually, it is not even a film about Auschwitz. It is a film about how the abyss of the past transcends into the problems of the present. It is a story of trans-generation and trans-national relations that gain extra-dynamics by the presence of the historical weight of the concentration camp of Auschwitz.

In this sense, the film is an amazing piece of story-telling because it catches the hesitations and irritations that we all - especially in my generation - have when dealing with our past knowing that in fact we are handling the questions and relations of today. Additionally, "Am Ende kommen Touristen" has a very subtle way of mixing irony and cynicism, attention and ignorance, anger and joy, closeness and distance without making it feel constructed or misleading. It is not very innovative in terms of film-making or cinematic narrative (therefore 9/10) but it is a very honest story with fondly drawn characters, respect for past and present, and an appropriate ending that is really worth seeing - even more than once!