G (east) 1946, directed by Gerhard Lamprecht, DCP, OV w/English subtitles, 85 min
Cast: Charles Brauer, Hans Trinkaus, Harry Hindemith, Hedda Sarnow, Paul Bildt
LANDSCAPE OF RUINS
Introduction (in English): Florian Wüst (film curator, publisher, and lecturer)
Berlin, 1946: Amid a landscape of rubble, children are playing war games again. Among them are the two friends Gustav and Willi. While Gustav waits with his mother for his father to return, Willi lives with a widow and helps petty thief Birke with his crooked business. When Gustav’s prisoner-of-war father returns home, he is paralyzed and unable to help with the reconstruction of the city, making him the laughingstock of the neighborhood. To help his friend, Willi steals a food parcel and embarks on a dare that ends in tragedy.
Written and shot by Gerhard Lamprecht for DEFA in 1946, the film explores the question of how life can go on in a wrecked social and urban setting. The film deals with generational conflicts, capitulation, reconstruction, and sheer survival, while another layer is added to the myth of Berlin, a city that constantly reinvents itself.
→ Admission: 7 €