Wunder von Bern, Das (2003)

Director:

Sönke Wortmann

Writers:

Rochus Hahn (writer)
Sönke Wortmann (writer)

Release Date:

16 October 2003 (Germany)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Sport

Plot:

The movie deals with the championship-winning German soccer team of 1954. Its story is linked with two...

Plot Keywords:

Polish Migrant Worker | 1950s | German History | German Soccer | Germany

Awards:

10 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Louis Klamroth	...	Matthias Lubanski
Peter Lohmeyer	...	Richard Lubanski
Johanna Gastdorf	...	Christa Lubanski
Mirko Lang	...	Bruno Lubanski
Birthe Wolter	...	Ingrid Lubanski
Katharina Wackernagel	...	Annette Ackermann
Lukas Gregorowicz	...	Paul Ackermann (as Lucas Gregorowicz)
Péter Franke	...	Sepp Herberger (as Peter Franke)
Sascha Göpel	...	Helmut Rahn
Knut Hartwig	...	Fritz Walter
Holger Dexne	...	Horst Eckel
Simon Verhoeven	...	Ottmar Walter
Jo Stock	...	Toni Turek
Martin Bretschneider	...	Hans Schäfer
Christian Broos	...	Werner Kohlmeyer (Im Endspiel)

Also Known As:

The Miracle of Bern (International: English title)

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German | Swiss German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-7 | Spain:7 | South Korea:All | Germany:6 | Netherlands:MG6 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Argentina:13 | Singapore:PG | Brazil:Livre

Filming Locations:

Beek, Duisburg, North Rhine - Westphalia, Germany

Company:

Little Shark Entertainment GmbH

Trivia:

Andreas "Obel" Obering, who plays radio-reporter Herbert Zimmermann, was a member of the German comedy-duo "Till and Obel".

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In one training scene, we see a scoreboard mounted on a standard 20ft-container. But standard 20ft-containers were not available in 1954.

Movie Connections:

References Gladiator (2000)

Soundtrack:

Ja, so fängt es immer an

Release this inspiring film with English sub-titles.....

I did not know until reading the comments at the IMDb site that winning the FIFA World Cup in 1954 meant so much to a Germany that was building a new, humanitarian society.

I want to add two remarks to what has been said so well by the others.

First of all, I think that "Miracle at Berlin" should be released worldwide with English sub-titles because it has such a good story to tell. It only had Thai sub-titles (not English) here in Chiang Mai, Thailand, but I was lucky to understand enough of the German dialog. The theatre manager later told me the Thai sub-titles helped many natives here to enjoy and appreciate this, so he ran it an extra week.

Secondly, it is pleasant to see the Germans in the film express their patriotic pride in such a positive way. For example, it was fun to watch the young woman who agreed to delay her honeymoon so that her sportswriter husband could cover the World Cup in Switzerland. She had cared little about the tournament but in the final match came out in front of the German fans to lead cheers for their struggling team.

Since then it was also a pleasure to see and read how Germany hosted such a successful World Cup tournament in July, 2006, with their theme for visitors from around the world, "A Time to Make Friends." I'm reminded how Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court Earl Warren said he would first read the sports pages for news of human accomplishments before having to turn to the front pages to learn about the failures. Now that so much of the Middle East is once again in flames, we need stories like "Miracle at Berlin" to remind us that sometimes there are still happy endings.