Originally an ARD TV movie, Bornholmer Strasse was produced at the celebration of 25 Jahre Mauerfall (25 years after the Berlin Wall 'fell'). A film about a country actually ending its existence- you don't get many of those.
Worth seeing for the sheer fun of it, for historical insight and good acting, particularly by Charly Hübner. Even the incident with the dog did happen - only few months earlier. The woman who breaks down at the Schlagbaum as she isn't allowed to go over the border and is then led to West-Berlin illegally by a guard does exist, though the event happened at the Brandenburger Tor.
Germany does have a sense of humor and the characters are quite enjoyable in their Dad's Army-like incompetence, though it feels that element is overdone in the first half. The second half of the movie the tone changes, as the unbelievable happens: there is a buildup to a civil war breaking out but the centre character, Harald Jäger, aptly called Schäfer in the film opens up the border at the Bornholmer Strasse. Literally. (Though in reality he only gave the order.) Thus ends the DDR and one of the worst parts of the cold war. Hundreds of thousands of East Germans cross the border, Germany reunites and what not. Thre buildup of suspense is effective enough to make shivers go down my spine, but then again, I was born just before the wall was built (1960), lived with the East Block border only 500 kms from my home...
Worth seeing for the sheer fun of it, for historical insight and good acting, particularly by Charly Hübner. Even the incident with the dog did happen - only few months earlier. The woman who breaks down at the Schlagbaum as she isn't allowed to go over the border and is then led to West-Berlin illegally by a guard does exist, though the event happened at the Brandenburger Tor.
Germany does have a sense of humor and the characters are quite enjoyable in their Dad's Army-like incompetence, though it feels that element is overdone in the first half. The second half of the movie the tone changes, as the unbelievable happens: there is a buildup to a civil war breaking out but the centre character, Harald Jäger, aptly called Schäfer in the film opens up the border at the Bornholmer Strasse. Literally. (Though in reality he only gave the order.) Thus ends the DDR and one of the worst parts of the cold war. Hundreds of thousands of East Germans cross the border, Germany reunites and what not. Thre buildup of suspense is effective enough to make shivers go down my spine, but then again, I was born just before the wall was built (1960), lived with the East Block border only 500 kms from my home...