Bye Bye Germany (2017)

David Berman and his friends, all Holocaust survivors, have only one purpose: to go to America as soon as possible. For this they need money. Close to his aim, David is not only deprived of his savings but also overtaken by his shady past.

Director:

Sam Garbarski

Writers:

Michel Bergmann (screenplay), Sam Garbarski (collaboration on screenplay)

Stars:

Moritz Bleibtreu, Antje Traue, Tim Seyfi

2 wins.

Cast

Credited cast:
Moritz Bleibtreu	...	David Bermann
Antje Traue	...	Special Agent Sara Simon
Tim Seyfi	...	Fajnbrot
Mark Ivanir	...	Holzmann
Anatole Taubman	...	Fränkel
Hans Löw	...	Verständig
Pál Mácsai	...	Szoros
Václav Jakoubek	...	Krautberg
Jeanne Werner	...	Elsa
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Joachim Paul Assböck	...	Kleinschmitt
Joel Basman	...	Lubliner (as Joel Basmann)
Jeff Burrell	...	Officer
Harvey Friedman	...	Joseph Goebbels
Tania Garbarski	...	Frau Sonia
Éric Gigout	...	Jüdischer Gefangener

Storyline

David Berman and his friends, all Holocaust survivors, have only one purpose: to go to America as soon as possible. For this they need money. Close to his aim, David is not only deprived of his savings but also overtaken by his shady past.

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Plot Keywords:

holocaust survivor | holding an umbrella for a woman | marriage proposal | reference to mein kampf | reference to statue of liberty | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | War

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Details

Country:

Germany Luxembourg Belgium

Language:

German English

Release Date:

27 April 2018 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bye Bye Germany

Filming Locations:

Luxembourg

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,874, 15 April 2018, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$73,730, 6 December 2018

Company Credits

Production Co:

Samsa Film,IGC Films,Entre Chien et Loup

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Within one scene David Bermann (Moritz Bleibtreu) and his friends destroy the red Plymouth of their opponent. The actors really crashed the car with battens, picks and iron rods - and enjoyed it a lot. Actor Tim Seyfi described it: "For us it was a children's birthday party." Afterwards the car was an economical total loss.

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Goofs

Sara wears high heeled shoes with her uniform, which would not be allowed. The proper footwear would have been low heeled oxfords.

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Soundtracks

Drei kleine Geschichten
Performed by Evelyn Künneke

User Reviews

Interesting film about postwar Germany

Es war einmal en Deutschland (2017) (also called Auf Wiedersehen Deutschland) was shown in the U.S. with the title Bye Bye Germany. It was co-written and directed by Sam Garbarski.

The movie stars Moritz Bleibtreu as David Bermann, who survived the Holocaust by telling jokes so funny that even the Nazi officers laughed. He has elected to stay in Germany after the war, using cunning and sales experience to get rich.

The lovely Antje Traue co-stars as a U.S. intelligence officer, who has the task of finding Jews who collaborated with the Nazis. This whole aspect of the film doesn't work. It just isn't realistic to expect the officer to spend hour after hour with Bermann. However, director Gabaski uses this device to illustrate what happened to Bermann in the concentration camp. When Bermann defends himself, we see flashbacks of what really took place.

I'm not familiar with Moritz Bleibtrau's work, but he is a consummate actor. It's worth watching the film to see a true professional bringing a role to life. The supporting cast is excellent, and the movie is very skillfully crafted.

We saw this film at the wonderful Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman Museum. It was screened as part of the excellent Rochester Jewish Film Festival. It will work well on DVD. The film has a very weak IMDb rating of 6.5. I'm not sure why it has the low rating. It's much better than that.