First things first: this is an East German propaganda film for teenage children. Without too gory details, we get to see concentration camp prisoners and wards, good communists, bad Nazis, the Red Army liberating the KZ, and finally a parade with jubilant citizens and tanks waving the East German flag, with an uplifting song about socialism as finale.
That said, I must say that the film is very artfully done. In little over one hour of runtime, it delivers memorable and sometimes nail-biting impressions of the concentration camp, children's life in central Berlin in 1939 (including flying a kite, which later ends up torn in a tree, as later often seen in Charlie Brown comics), the drama of a political prisoner ("Pepp") en route to KZ (I suppose) being freed from a boxcar and sheltered in the basement of a former restaurant, the troubles to get non-convict clothing and some money for him, conflicts between the main boys ("Amigo" who surrenders himself to protect the others, and "Sine", who in one scene loves to show his new HJ uniform, whose father is a Nazi tending to drink)... and of course the Gestapo staff working on the case. Quite thrilling, yet without visible violence.
Much atmospheric imagery, with interesting details - the sub-story of the pay-box for electricity (or gas?) fascinated me most.
I rank this film close to "Ich war 19" as a memorable experience. Communism is basically gone, the GDR has ceased to exist, so the political concerns are negligible now, but the imagery of this film has survived all that, and is still impressing, in my eyes.
That said, I must say that the film is very artfully done. In little over one hour of runtime, it delivers memorable and sometimes nail-biting impressions of the concentration camp, children's life in central Berlin in 1939 (including flying a kite, which later ends up torn in a tree, as later often seen in Charlie Brown comics), the drama of a political prisoner ("Pepp") en route to KZ (I suppose) being freed from a boxcar and sheltered in the basement of a former restaurant, the troubles to get non-convict clothing and some money for him, conflicts between the main boys ("Amigo" who surrenders himself to protect the others, and "Sine", who in one scene loves to show his new HJ uniform, whose father is a Nazi tending to drink)... and of course the Gestapo staff working on the case. Quite thrilling, yet without visible violence.
Much atmospheric imagery, with interesting details - the sub-story of the pay-box for electricity (or gas?) fascinated me most.
I rank this film close to "Ich war 19" as a memorable experience. Communism is basically gone, the GDR has ceased to exist, so the political concerns are negligible now, but the imagery of this film has survived all that, and is still impressing, in my eyes.
