Grounding - Die letzten Tage der Swissair (2006)

Director:

Michael Steiner

Writers:

Jürg Brändli (writer)
Tobias Fueter (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

The demise of airline Swissair in 2001 was a huge blow to Switzerland's economy and to the country's morale...

Plot Keywords:

Bankruptcy | Airline

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Hanspeter Müller	...	Mario Corti
László I. Kish	...	Moritz Suter
Michael Neuenschwander	...	André Dosé
Gilles Tschudi	...	Marcel Ospel
Rainer Guldener	...	Lukas Mühlemann
Katharina von Bock	...	Jacqualyn Fouse
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pasquale Aleardi
Andrea Bettini
Stephan Bürgi
Peter Fischli
Matthias Flückiger
Helmut Förnbacher
Ralph Gassmann
Jean-Pierre Gos		(as Jean-Pierre Goss)
Joris Gratwohl
Stefan Gubser
Janic Halioua
Walter Hess
Ueli Jäggi
Stefanie Japp
Peter Jecklin
Zdenko Jelcic
Tiziana Jelmini
Aviva Joel
Andrea Marin
Hans Heinz Moser
Leonardo Nigro
Peter Reichenbach
Daniel Rohr
Stefanie Stämpfli

Also Known As:

Grounding: The Last Days of Swissair (International: English title)

Runtime:

Switzerland:120 min

Country:

Switzerland

Language:

Swiss German

Color:

Color

Certification:

Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva)

Filming Locations:

France

Company:

C-Films AG

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The film plays in 2001, however several characters drive Volkswagen Phaeton limos, which were not sold until 2002.

Dramatic Countdown

GROUNDING shows the story from the great air flag of our country which became a nightmare and that didn't never have the chance to get the emergency exit.

I didn't see GROUNDING in the theaters because there were long rows so I forgot this movie until I heard from an ex Swissair stewardess that she watched it and she found it very dramatic with full of emotions. In fact it touched me very deeply too and I recommend it to everyone that like air planes movies.

The picture was well done and I never got bored from start to the end. All the actors did a great job here and the director succeeded to tell all in a very dramatic countdown. What I didn't like therefore was that the story has been set up with a good and a bad guy that doesn't match at all the real events that happened before the definitive catastrophe.

I was impressed when I saw the SWISSAIR headquarter of Balsberg near the airport of Zurich where I spent a banking workshop last year. I realize now how hot the situation really was there and all the economical fights the management had to affront in this building. I was pleased to watch the Gate Gourmet employee called Luigi Dini in the film that was my partner in this workshop. All in all I give a 7/10.