NVA (2005) User Reviews

Finally a military comedy which is not from the USA

[leverkuehn · 7/10 · 21 September 2005]

NVA combines eastalgia-humor, military comedy and teen movie. Although it is somehow typically German-movie-like sentimental, I think it's a great and very funny movie. You will not only laugh in NVA but also get a bit of an insight in the Eastern Germany armed forces of the late 1980ies and how the young recruits as well as the professional soldiers experienced the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the German Democratic Republic.

You will enjoy NVA if you liked Sonnenallee (another movie directed by Leander Haußmann), but not necessarily if you enjoyed Good Bye Lenin which is much more serious and less obviously funny.

The acting is acceptable. But watch for former boy band singer Kim Frank who has only two facial expressions: natural and shocked saucer-eyed!

Nice try but not as good as it could have been!

[zuriel · 5/10 · 29 September 2005]

Here's a short summary of N.V.A:

Jung Henrik Heidler (Kim Fischer) wants to serve his time in the military as inconspicuous as possible. His comrade Krüger (Oliver Bröcker) in contrast will try anything to oppose his superiors and prove that he is definitely not a soldier. But none of these two strategies comes out even: Henriks girlfriend brakes up and he falls in love, again, with in another girl, while his friend and comrade Krüger has to pay the price for his rebellious behavior towards his superiors and their ideology.

My comment:

Well, I just saw this movie and I must say I it didn't really knock me off my feet. It has some funny moments in it but all in all I can tell that it's not really my kind of humor. The jokes are not subtle enough as I would have liked it in connection with the topic, everything is just too obvious and that seems to make it a comedy that is too much dull. The topic itself, I think, is good and interesting but the film couldn't convert this properly. I always have lived in West Germany so I don't really have an appropriate idea about the NVA. But I can imagine that these jokes are based on actual customs and probably experiences of Leander Haußmann. So, if you forget the jokes this might be a good and authentic movie about serving time in the NVA .

But one thing that was really, really bad in this film was the acting of Kim Fischer. You see, this guy is the singer of a German pop band named "Echt". His music is not my taste either but this is just the way I feel about it. But this guy just shouldn't act and I am sure that everybody who saw this movie will agree. Maybe he just needs some more practice and experience (this is his first film). But he definitely wasn't ready to play a leading part in a big German blockbuster when they shot NVA .

Altogether I give it 5 points.

Feeble and dishonest

[pawebster · 3/10 · 2 October 2005]

What a shame. This could have been good. The main problems are the script and the star. The film cannot decide whether to be a slapstick comedy (of a very uninspired and routine kind) or whether to be a insightful satire on the old East Germany and its mores. Its attempts at the latter flop totally, however. The film does not hold together well and the ending is very artificial and unbelievable. Any stereotypes one might have about German comedy are sadly reinforced.

The characters are stereotypes one and all, and the leading character, played by Kim Frank, is colourless in the extreme. He just cannot carry the film and appears to have been chosen largely for his baby face. It may not be all the actor's fault (he is a pop singer), as the script does not give him much to work on.

One plus -- the recreation of the East German 'style' and period is good.

The worst thing is that the film feels somehow dishonest and demeaning. The film seems to have been churned out by people who were not necessarily giving it their best and just wanted to make a quick buck from a few cheap laughs. (If they were giving it their best, it is a sad case indeed!) I watched it at the cinema with an East German audience and I felt sorry for them. The GDR regime was awful in almost all respects, but those who lived through it deserve better than this.

This movie wasn't worth the money

[mikklm · 4/10 · 14 October 2005]

I didn't expect too much from this movie, but I was still disappointed. It's supposed to be a comedy, but there are only four or five scenes where I actually laughed, and I think that's rather poor. There is no real plot either, I always had the feeling that most of the scenes could have been put anywhere in the movie because there's no connection between them. But the worst thing was the "acting" of Kim Franke. He has ONE facial expression during the whole movie, as if he was supposed to play some retarded guy, but I believe that's not the case. All in all I rate it four out of ten, I've seen worse movies than this, but I wouldn't spend money on this one again.

Not bad

[hallonurse · 19 December 2005]

I do not agree with the previous comment. I found this movie really enjoyable: I am aware of the fact that the plot may seem a bit flat, sometimes, but I nevertheless think that it is entirely beside the point. I mean, this movie's purpose is to represent comic (and less comic) sketches that may really have happened in a DDR Army Headquarter, with the harshness of life or the stubbornnes of some figures and such sort of things. Kim Frank's way of acting is not bad at all! I mean, I think he represents an unconventional youngster - perhaps a bit naive - that is suddenly uprooted: he has lo leave his music, his love... We could say his facial expression only corresponds to this dismay, this delusion or perhaps the incapability to accept reality in general.

Less than mediocre

[Tribble-2 · 4/10 · 30 April 2006]

As was mentioned before in other comments, the major problem of NVA is that it cannot decide what it wants to be, slapstick of the cheapest kind or an honest parody of the East German Army. There are a couple of moments which are quite moving, for example when one of the recruits returns from the army prison in Schwedt with a completely broken personality. But in the end, Leander Haußmann goes for the infantile humour. No wonder the film flopped at the German box office as it's historically untruthful to the real situation in those training camps and led by an actor who is unfortunately incapable of giving a nuanced performance.

However, there is the camera work of Frank Griebe who - as always - does a wonderful job. If it wasn't for his beautiful images I would have rated the film far worse.

Feel-good movie with a comic view on a serious topic

[christineheh · 9/10 · 4 September 2007]

Don't quite know why some people complain about this film not being a comedy and at the same time being too unrealistic. If it had been realistic, there certainly wouldn't have been much comedy. I also don't think that a comedy needs to make you laugh aloud twenty times. There was much subtle humor, sweet feelings, and Kim Frank just portrayed a dreamy character. In real life, there are many people whose facial expression doesn't change much so Kim Frank keeping his was quite all right. The ending was quite unrealistic, I'd say, but happy. It's a light-hearted movie with a feel-good ending. I liked it. Loved it, actually. A serious part was Krueger going to Schwedt, and I'm glad they didn't show what happened to him there. Showing how he was when he came back hinted at it quite clearly.

unacceptable approach

[dominik96 · 4/10 · 21 May 2007]

I've expected a comedy about the NVA, but this is a parody. It shows the national army of Eastern Germany in a light that is not appropriate, and definitely not true.

One can make a comedy about everything, as long as the underlying facts are not changed. Even a comedy about the German KZ is possible, as Roberto Benigni with "LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL" has shown.

The movie NVA would be an "OK" comedy, because the jokes in it are overall OK. Nothing special - not hilarious, but enough to live with it.

The point is, that the movie makes a farce and a parody about the NVA. A death machine that was ready to attack WESTERN EUROPE along with it's friend the RED ARMY. An institution that used everything to get the utmost from it's soldiers. An army that marched into the CSPR in 1968, and was ready to march also in POLAND to destroy the SOLIDARNOSC. You can't make a movie without showing the tiniest bit of evil, or would you make a parody about a KZ,Guantanamo or 9/11??? Showing Osama bin Laden as a funny screwed guy? 90 minutes about a funny Osama in a Afghan Taliban camp, where he makes jokes and is training his soldiers would be comparable to what this movie is doing about the NVA!

NVA - the memories

[selbaer · 20 June 2006]

to understand the movie and notice all the little details you have to know the NVA and must have served, forget all the comments of the west Germans, they will never understand because they just haven't been there...

just the scene with all the "ufo's", radios and the bottle of "pfeffi" in the office of the "spiess" is worth it or cleaning up the the leafs in the wind, i have been there...

so all together its a great movie for the east Germans

10 plus from me

winx from Florida

Very unimpressive

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 25 March 2016]

There may be many pretty good German films about the life in East Germany before the Fall of the Berlin Wall (mostly of course the Oscar-winning "Das Leben der Anderen"), but there are at least as many forgettable films on the subject too. This one here that runs for slightly over 90 minutes with credits and shows us what life was like in the official army of the GDR, but definitely in a comedic approach. If you know writer and director Leander Haußmann, then you will know that he usually gives his movies a comedic approach while telling the audience some facts and snippets in terms of history and life back then. And this is also exactly what he does here. But it is not a successful approach really. I never really cared for any of the characters and honestly, in terms of historic knowledge, the film has almost nothing to offer unfortunately.

But it is not all Haußmann's fault. The biggest problem actually may be lead actor Kim Frank here. There is obviously a reason why he has not acted before of after this film. He was a really successful musician back then with his band "Echt" and some considered him a bit of a young Campino. But acting is definitely not his strength. His approach to the role felt completely lackluster and his line delivery was monotonous enough to talk you into sleep. It always sucks if people get cast because they are famous in other areas, but then have absolutely nothing to offer in terms of range or making his character work. The supporting cast is certainly better without delivering any greatness either. Buck was fun to watch at times though. Not enough, however, to make up for the weaknesses in storytelling and Frank's performance here. I do not recommend the watch.

Deconstructional comedy

[Robert-Lander · 8/10 · 19 October 2005]

Do not expect a classic military comedy, which claims to make fun of the military while only enhancing a militaristic outlook. Instead it deconstructs the elements that make the military such a murderous machine. Kind of East German version of "Buffalo Soldiers".

"NVA" works on a meta-level that it sympathizes with its heroes' attempts to escape from army drill any which way they can. It's not about loud laughs but about long lasting smiles. Utopian, of course (in one scene you will be shown the harsh reality), but very thoughtful.

Just to fill the required 10 lines: Do not go into that movie if you have been an army officer and liked your job.