I heard about the movie from a friend, who had seen it at the Berlinale Film Festival in 2002, where the movie actually won the Silver Bear Award in this year. He only told me about a little, quite but funny movie which is taking place in a city in the eastern part of Germany (former GDR), but he didn't wanted to spoil it. "Halbe Treppe" literally means as much as "on/ at/ to be half stairs" or if one has climbed a few steps one finds itself at "half stairs". This idiom does not make sense in German either, so my conclusion was that this is a term only used in the former GDR i do not understand, because i grew up in the western part of Germany. There are a few expressions only used in the GDR, but now being used in all parts of Germany. My anticipation of the plot was something about living in typical socialistic suburban dwellings in the eastern part of Germany where the term "Halbe Treppe" is used for something i do not know. I forgot about the movie and finally watched it a few days ago on TV (gladly without commercial breaks) and i was absolutely surprised, when i found out that "Halbe Treppe" is the name Uwe's Grillpoint (the English title!) which is situated between 2 stairs at "Halbe Treppe"! In my eyes the story in this movie could take place anywhere in Germany, Europe, but maybe the city of Frankfurt/Oder was not coincidentally chosen by the director. Well, i have been there but many people from the old federal states (and some from the new states, too) in Germany think Frankfurt/Oder is the end of the world, the worst place to live in Germany, because the city is situated head to head to the polish city Slubice bordered by the river "Oder". For people from the U.S. maybe it is comparable to Tijuana, but without the fence!! In the meantime Poland has become a full member of the EU so far, but prejudices about Poland are though. Everything is different: People, language, currency, habits, prices (low). While Slubice is economically growing and growing, Frankfurt is struggling with unemployment and disillusioned citizens where a lot of them have already moved away from the city (for more information have a look at the English Wikipedia). It's very satirical when Chris crosses the border to rent a polish hotel room just to save the money, if he and Ellen want to meet secretly: Even cheating German couples support the polish economy due to cheaper prices! It must be great fun for the director to confuse the viewer with a story about the relationship of 2 couples if one expects a plot about the life in a struggling city, emphasized by the fact that the movie is shot in the depressive mood of winter. Although my expectation of the movie were completely wrong i was hooked up immediately and always thought the situations the characters experience must end up in a tragic and sad disaster, but the terrific comical elements (the search for the escaped budgie, the people who think Chris is a fortune teller who predicted the power failure) make this movie a brilliant piece of German cinema.
Review of Grill Point
