This movie begins in the American sector of Berlin, introducing the two boys and the troubles that they have to go through. To make money to buy boxing gloves, one sells his knife and gets 4 marks for it - plus two tickets for the Eastern circus. They learn a lot when they go there.
You can sure call it propaganda. In the east, a former mechanic can study (for free) veterinary medicine, while in the west, even an apprenticeship for the boy seems impossible to get.
The boys, more or less willingly, join a gang (ironically headed by Erwin Geschonneck) to steal horses from the Eastern circus. The Berlin Wall didn't exist until 7 years later, but they break a hole into a cemetery wall on the borderline (covered up on the Eastern side, another big irony, with a poster "Wir bauen auf!" - "we're building up") in order to get the horses out, to be shipped to a cowboy show in Munich.
Some things are predictable, but the show of force of the Eastern police (with cars, motorbikes, trucks, radio communication) is somehow over the top.
Anyway, the good guys (that is, the Eastern) win, and an elephant presents two pairs of boxing gloves to the boys. All in all, a nice and interesting viewing experience.
3 out of 3 found this helpful