Germany Year Zero (1948)

A young German boy faces the problems of the tough life in the immediate post WWII Berlin.

Director:

Roberto Rossellini

Writers:

Roberto Rossellini (screenplay), Roberto Rossellini (dialogue)

Stars:

Edmund Moeschke, Ernst Pittschau, Ingetraud Hinze

3 wins.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Edmund Moeschke	...	Edmund Köhler (as Edmund Meschke)
Ernst Pittschau	...	Il padre
Ingetraud Hinze	...	Eva (as Ingetraud Hinz)
Franz-Otto Krüger	...	Karl-Heinz (as Franz Grüger)
Erich Gühne	...	Il maestro

Storyline

Edmund, a young boy who lives in war-devastated Germany after the Second World War has to do all kinds of work and tricks to help his family in getting food and barely survive. One day he meets a man who used to be one of his teachers in school and hopes to get support from him, but the ideas of this man do not lead Edmund in a clearer or safer way of living...

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Plot Keywords:

boy | work | german | soldier | pedophile | 

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Taglines:

The country is obliterated, the buildings are dilapidated and the people are desolated.

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Italy France Germany

Language:

German English French

Release Date:

19 September 1949 (USA)

Also Known As:

Germany Year Zero

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Tevere Film,SAFDI,Union Générale Cinématographique (UGC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

78 min 71 min (TCM print)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to his autobiography, Klaus Kinski went in to audition for an unspecified part for Roberto Rossellini when he came to Berlin. He claims that after hours of waiting while Rossellini was on the phone with Anna Magnani in another room, Kinski characteristically burst out in anger and cursed Rossellini. The Italian director was reputedly heard saying as Kinski was storming out: "Chi è quello? Mi interessa! Fategli un provino!" (Translation: "Who is he? Interesting! Arrange for a screen test!")

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Quotes

Herr Rademaker: Tell me the truth. What did you do with the money?
Edmund: What money?
Herr Rademaker: The money for the scale. Did you give it to your father?
Edmund: I swear that's not true.
Herr Rademaker: You're not going to cheat me, boy. I know you'll do anything for money. You got into my house ...
Edmund: The housing superintendent sent us here.
Herr Rademaker: Yes, and I have to put up with it. Your father is a pain, always complaining. Why doesn't he die and give us some peace?

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Connections

Edited into Histoire(s) du cinéma: La monnaie de l'absolu (1999)

User Reviews

Tenaz!!

After watching "Roma, città aperta" in the 1970's and "Paisà" in the late 1980's, I finally saw "Germania anno zero", the last part of Roberto Rossellini's war trilogy. Compared to the first two installments, they all share the immediacy of the war, but this time Rossellini is more direct: no subplots, only a handful of characters, all of whom move around young Edmund (Edmund Mëschke), the 12-year-old German boy who lives in a miserable apartment with five other families, and who maintains his sick father, his brother who was a Nazi soldier and his sister, who is close to becoming a prostitute. Edmund pretends he's old enough to work, but when he's denied that opportunity, he steals, sells items in the black market, or allows his former teacher to caress him lasciviously for a few marks. What's more impressive in this film is the lack of sentimentality – compared to De Sica's children movies- and the absence of preaching: when one character does preach, he would have better stayed shut! I think that many scholars are no longer interested in the aesthetics of Italian Neorealism, but–in my appreciation- Roberto Rossellini is one of the big names in the history of cinema, far more important than other filmmakers who are idolized, and his war films are more interesting to me than later works as "Voyage in Italy".