An die Grenze (2007 TV Movie) User Reviews

Outstanding performance of Jacob Matschenz

[mhcollector · 10/10 · 29 October 2007]

I can't remember any other German-speaking newcomer who has impressed me so much as Jacob Matschenz did. There might be some flaws in the plot, but the topic is highly interesting and the cast is brilliant, e.g. Max Riemelt and Jutta Hoffmann to name those actors who are always grand.

But it's definitely Matschenz who carries the burden of being in almost every scene, but masters his job astonishingly. The transformation of his character is played so sensitively that you can't help but enjoy his performance although the topic is far from pleasant. Close-ups of his face show the enormous talent this young actor has got - his emotions become visible in tiny little changes of his facial expression. Not the big poses we know from most Hollywood films.

Some critics might say the cruelty at the German/German border belongs to history, but I think the exact opposite is true: those people who worked at the border treated the arch fiend (i.e. all the people from the Western world) so badly, they humiliated us travelers and visitors in an arrogant, mean way - and live among us as respected citizens today. They should not be allowed to... Let alone the cruelties they committed against their fellow citizens - which "An die Grenze" just points to!

The film shows the spirit that was behind all this - a good lesson in history for the younger generation.

An outstanding film with a highly authentic milieu

[pfv-1 · 10/10 · 25 January 2009]

An die Grenze manages to escape much of the "Ostalgie" (longing back for East Germany) one finds in so many films about the former DDR. It traces the story of an idealistic young border guard who wants to escape the privileges which his academic father's position affords him. Much of the plot might be unlikely in practice; for example, the romantic interest. I am sure, in addition, that ex-NVA conscripts might find any number of mistakes or anachronisms. I spotted one; that the soles of the boots of a soldier with more than a year's service were absolutely brand new (though the boots were undoubtedly of authentic East German issue).

Apart from such quibbles, if you are looking for a film which recreates the life of a conscript in the NVA (Nationale Volksarmee), this film goes a long way towards fulfilling that need. The brutal regime of EK's (Entlassungskandidate), soldiers in their final 6 months of service, some of the authentic initiation "games" they used on the "Sprutze" (rookies), the political lectures, the general atmosphere and character of an East German barracks; all of this is well represented.

So, too, is the wearying character of the border itself; the endless wire fences, the inspection roads, the great arc lights, the border guards patrolling two-by-two, making escape so much more difficult, the posting of guards by truck, the communications and procedures. The border is, in fact, almost a character in itself.

The film thus really does recreate the harsh and ugly reality of the German-German border, the unbearably dull life of the DDR. It also exposes the hollow propaganda lie of the border as a defense against the hostile West. I served in the South African Defence Force 1973-1975, the exact time in which this film is set. It was in many ways quite different from the NVA, its discipline perhaps even harsher. But in terms of this background, as well as knowledge of the NVA acquired in recent years, all my instincts incline me to accept this film as representative of its milieu. It has a "ring of authenticity" about it which is unmistakable to someone who has actually experienced military conscription.

In fairness to former NVA conscripts, mention should be made of another significant deviation from absolute reality. It is this; that while daily life as presented is representative of an ordinary NVA barracks, it does not represent that of the border guards as such. They in fact had no EKs, and in their barracks strict silence was kept, since their life was divided into three "beats"; sleeping, readiness for guard duty, and guard duty itself. The story thus conflates two separate realities into a totality which did not happen exactly as it is presented - but given this, the film still does present actuality.

Of the plot itself I will say nothing - it is well-constructed, and moves steadily and inexorably forwards towards its excellent and satisfying climax. The cruelties of the barracks are balanced against the intense humanity of its main characters. Performances are universally of a high standard, and the film is understated in the way one has come to expect of the German film industry. Jacob Matschentz, who plays his big role with great skill, manages to convey the development in the character of Soldat Alexander Karow subtly but clearly. He is rarely absent from the scene, but never becomes dull. The other, long-serving officers may be slightly caricatured, but none offends the progress of the plot. The direction maintains the atmosphere of fear and unease from beginning to end.

A highly recommended film to anyone who wants an experience of this harsh but forgotten era.

Just another homophobic crap

[yduric · 1/10 · 15 September 2007]

When I read the plot summary for this Z-graded TV-movie, it said that it was about d the dilemma and doubts of a young East German border guard during the seventies. However, instead on concentrating on that point, it goes completely off-focus: the time devoted to the exploration of the doubts of the young border guard about his country and the communist system are reduced to a minimum. What the director actually focuses on and films with an obvious pleasure that would give nausea to many people is the process of bullying that takes place within the platoon, and what is even more disgusting is that he is definitely on the bullies' side: all their victims are depicted as pathetic, as if they 'got what they deserved'. This is even made clearer at the end, when we read about the destinies of the border guards after the end of the communist East Germany: all the bullies got away, and all the victims ended up badly, especially the most bullied boy, who was labeled 'gay' by his 'comrades' ended up in Berlin stabbed by a homosexual. This clearly shows an extremely nasty and obnoxious nostalgia for a fascist system, where everyone who did not 'fit he right profile' could be prosecuted and made a scapegoat and it is a definite shame that the director disguised it in a wannabe 'liberal' drama, and that apparently many people, judging by the high rating this on-screen garbage got, swallowed that lie.