"Fünf Patronenhülsen" is an East German 90-minute movie from 1960, so this one is already over 55 years old. This anniversary was last year. And like with so many of these films from the GDR from that era, it is a black-and-white movie. By today's standards, it is among the more known East German films and this is has certainly partially to do with the fact that it is directed by the late Frank Beyer, who is considered among the (if not the number 1) best filmmakers from the GDR. And the cast includes a couple big names (by relative standards) as well. These would be Manfred Krug, Erwin Geschonneck and Armin Mueller-Stahl. Especially the latter was also a pretty successful Hollywood actor. Back to this film here, it is a war film from the GDR that has nothing to do with Nazi Germany though for a change, but is about the Spanish Civil War that occurred at the same time when Nazis were in power during their first years. I personally must say this was a very bleak and dry film. Some may like this approach, but I did not and I also did not care for any of the characters in here or for what fate would have in store for them. Then again, I am generally not a fan really of GDR cinema and there are very few quality projects only to see from that country, at least from what I have seen so far. This is nowhere near a great film and I would really only recommend this one to people with huge interest in the war depicted in here. I personally am glad it was over quickly. Thumbs down.
Review of Fünf Patronenhülsen
