If you grew up in Germany during the 1980s, "Christiane F" would seem forever present, no matter where you looked. The film was a mayor hit at the box-office and excerpts from the original novel were made homework in almost all schools. One couldn't open up a boulevard-paper or magazine without coming across horror-stories about yet another youngster that has overdosed in a seedy toilet by the train-station, generally accompanied by a photo of said toilet and corpse (more often than not looking horrible fake). Indeed, most kids that the distinct impression that, should they fall with the wrong crowd and – heaven beware – ever take a drag from a joint, that they would surely join that ever-growing horde of junkies that seemed to take over the subways like an army of the living dead. At least such was the impression.
First of: those drug-hotspots did exist, they do exist and – unless one day some sensible drug-policies are implicated and the politics stop catering to big-business drug-cartels – they will exist forevermore. Go to any major train-station between Frankfurt, Hamburg and Berlin, and you'll find junkies loitering around. And yes, if you look suitable gullible, you'll likely be approached by an 'ex-junkie, freshly sober and clean' who'll request some financial assistance, that will enable him to 'reach a far-off place, where a job is waiting for him or her'. But what you won't find is this seemingly post-apocalyptic scenario that "Christiane F" has painted, simply because it never existed other than in the media and the minds of the people.
One must give kudos to the film and the director: It shows the effect of heavy drug-addiction as realistic and relentless as "Leaving Las Vegas" shows the effect of alcohol-abuse. The horrors of being a junkie, drifting ever further the social-ladder and the descent into addiction, prostitution and eventually death are indeed harrowing. However, when it comes to the subject of the protagonist and the severity of the general problems, more than just some artistic-liberties have been taken.
Unlike the novel and the interviews with (the real) Christiane F, the film neglects to tell us, that Christiane and her friends already come from a severely disturbed, low-class background. Germanys social-system (or if you want, "caste-system") is very rigid, similar to that in the US. "Can't deny your roots" and if you happen to come from a redneck or white trash background, it is very unlikely that all the money in the world will be able to wash that background off.
The movie would like to make us believe that any 'nice girl from next door' can slide down into the living hell of the junkie-world, but that is only half true. True, anybody can get hooked on drugs, be it nicotine, heroin, coffee or the adrenaline rush received from extreme sports. But to become part of this little world of Christiane F (horrible as it may be), it would require an exposure that literally begins at birth.
So, despite all the truth in "Christiane F", one also has to admit that it is vastly exaggerated and, in the context of media-politics (especially in the West) also very manipulative. Look no further than the current anti-drug campaigns, that assure us that smoking marijuana is the beginning of the end (no, marijuana leads to harder drugs like thinking leads to madness). You will no doubt have read about Crystal-Meth, that currently turns a whole generation into an army of toothless, violent zombies. Or about the drug Krokodil looming on the horizon, a drug 50-times as potent as heroin and making the flesh virtually rot off the user's bones. They do exist, Crystal-Meth and/or Krokodil – but like most illegal things, they are more detrimental to the individual and not the society.
As much as I cherish "Christiane F" as a movie, it's relentless realism, the excellent actors (both the professionals and the laymen) and not being able to deny that it is one of the most accomplished anti-drug-films of all times, I cannot help to think that it's neither an answer to anything, nor at the essence very much more than a parody (albeit a harrowing one) of the drug-culture and the general situation. As such I can give it no more than 6/10.
First of: those drug-hotspots did exist, they do exist and – unless one day some sensible drug-policies are implicated and the politics stop catering to big-business drug-cartels – they will exist forevermore. Go to any major train-station between Frankfurt, Hamburg and Berlin, and you'll find junkies loitering around. And yes, if you look suitable gullible, you'll likely be approached by an 'ex-junkie, freshly sober and clean' who'll request some financial assistance, that will enable him to 'reach a far-off place, where a job is waiting for him or her'. But what you won't find is this seemingly post-apocalyptic scenario that "Christiane F" has painted, simply because it never existed other than in the media and the minds of the people.
One must give kudos to the film and the director: It shows the effect of heavy drug-addiction as realistic and relentless as "Leaving Las Vegas" shows the effect of alcohol-abuse. The horrors of being a junkie, drifting ever further the social-ladder and the descent into addiction, prostitution and eventually death are indeed harrowing. However, when it comes to the subject of the protagonist and the severity of the general problems, more than just some artistic-liberties have been taken.
Unlike the novel and the interviews with (the real) Christiane F, the film neglects to tell us, that Christiane and her friends already come from a severely disturbed, low-class background. Germanys social-system (or if you want, "caste-system") is very rigid, similar to that in the US. "Can't deny your roots" and if you happen to come from a redneck or white trash background, it is very unlikely that all the money in the world will be able to wash that background off.
The movie would like to make us believe that any 'nice girl from next door' can slide down into the living hell of the junkie-world, but that is only half true. True, anybody can get hooked on drugs, be it nicotine, heroin, coffee or the adrenaline rush received from extreme sports. But to become part of this little world of Christiane F (horrible as it may be), it would require an exposure that literally begins at birth.
So, despite all the truth in "Christiane F", one also has to admit that it is vastly exaggerated and, in the context of media-politics (especially in the West) also very manipulative. Look no further than the current anti-drug campaigns, that assure us that smoking marijuana is the beginning of the end (no, marijuana leads to harder drugs like thinking leads to madness). You will no doubt have read about Crystal-Meth, that currently turns a whole generation into an army of toothless, violent zombies. Or about the drug Krokodil looming on the horizon, a drug 50-times as potent as heroin and making the flesh virtually rot off the user's bones. They do exist, Crystal-Meth and/or Krokodil – but like most illegal things, they are more detrimental to the individual and not the society.
As much as I cherish "Christiane F" as a movie, it's relentless realism, the excellent actors (both the professionals and the laymen) and not being able to deny that it is one of the most accomplished anti-drug-films of all times, I cannot help to think that it's neither an answer to anything, nor at the essence very much more than a parody (albeit a harrowing one) of the drug-culture and the general situation. As such I can give it no more than 6/10.