This film attempts, successfully, to present within a single family, the range of human responses to the DDR and its regime during its final year or so of existence. It certainly is a mix. Paterfamilias is Jürgen Kaiser, an MfS (Stasi, secret police) official. His son Marco is a Punk, a rebel. Of the other family members, Marco's grandfather constantly relives the "good old days" of the Second World War Wehrmacht, while his mother and new girlfriend are inclined towards the neo-democratic movements such as the Neues Forum.
It is hard to credit, if one did not know, how strong the Punk Rock movement was in Berlin during the '80s, or the lengths to which the DDR government went to suppress the movement. Marco attends a Punk event, where he meets a new girlfriend. The event is broken up by the Volkspolizei, and Marco is arrested.
He now faces a dilemma. This situation would have put his further studies in jeopardy, except that his father intervenes. If he is prepared to volunteer as an Unteroffizier in the NVA for three years (as opposed to 18 months' compulsory conscription), he will redeem himself (this reverses the usual order in the DDR, where studies were followed by a longer term of service). Very unwillingly, Marco agrees. "I hate you," he tells his father, even as they shake hands to seal the agreement. "That is your privilege as an adolescent," his father replies.
Then, unexpectedly, Marco takes to the military life, and the former Punk rebel becomes a dedicated defender of the socialist Fatherland. As the situation develops, tension arises between the members of the family, which slowly starts to break up. Eventually, as the final crisis approaches, Marco is left at the front line of the Wall itself. The final twist, when it comes, is so unexpected and understated that one might almost miss it if one is not paying careful attention.
There are a number of other twists and surprises in the plot, none of which merits discussion here, all of which are, however, essential contributors to the development of the human situation. And developments there are. There is not a single weak character in the film, and all the characters undergo intense and convincing developments. Despite the extreme positions reflected in the film, it is refreshingly free of contrived devices and unconvincing human situations. I found it a profoundly moving story.
As in An die Grenze and many films of this kind, including the present one there can be quibbles. For example, the resistance shown in the churches happened in Leipzig rather than Berlin. The licence taken in this way in the story is nevertheless justified by the scenario it presents.
I cannot single out a single weak actor. All the performances are strong and, again, convincing. It is a film well worth watching; one does not have to single out a particular reason for doing so. My only regret is the complete absence of subtitles. I would have liked an English subtext, since the vital perspective of this film is not usually seen in the English-speaking world when the Cold War era or the Berlin Wall makes an appearance.
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