Wie Feuer und Flamme

The story is set in the Berlin of 1982 and 1990. A girl from west-Berlin meets an east-german punk during a funeral-visit. They fall in Love and of course it becomes complicated, not only because such relationships were complicated in general due to the harsh visiting regulations, but because the punk-band under fire from the state security. The punk goes to prison in the end and the girl leaves for the u.s. ... In 1990, after the fall of the Berlin wall, she returns to find her "captain".

The movie could have been really good - atmosphere and detail of the Berlin of the early 80s are well matched. The story is a bit of-the-shelf, but still entertaining. Alas, the performance of the characters is not too well - at no moment you believe "Nele" to be a girl risking her life by sneaking into the east to help "captain", and the "punk band" rather makes the impression of an acting class... which is were probably most actors in the movie come from.

The movie was made with considerable support from German national television, and as such it is still of high quality - for television standards. Anyway, it is not a waste of time and from the reactions of the 20ish audience in the sneak preview, contains a lot of details about how east Germany worked that these kids nowadays neither know nor believe ...