"Marga Engel gibt nicht auf" is a German television film from 2004 that runs (as usual) for 1.5 hours approximately, slightly under and this is the their and final installment of the Marga Engel film series. Luckily, the final you could say because honestly this franchise sucked from the beginning and never should have existed in the first place. So if I can say anything positive at all about these films, then that they did not get worse with the sequels, but yeah that is really not a compliment because they simply sucked from film one. I think given the fact that this one here came out three years after the very first, it is safe to say that the franchise is over, also because lead actress Sägebrecht is moving close to 80 now and not really taking lead roles anymore I believe. Still I must say I have not watched the second film from these three (yet), so I don't know if it is as bad as one and three, but I am pretty sure it is. I would really be surprised if not. I may catch up on it if I get the chance to. As for the people who made it, you could basically expect this is not gonna turn out a quality watch looking at their other projects. Director Wichniarz has been really prolific, but nothing of true quality in his vast body of work. And as for the Kubischs (brothers?) who wrote the screenplay, well they "shine" most recently through "Sturm der Liebe". Enough said I guess. As for the cast, I already mentioned Säägebrecht, who plays the title character for a third time of course. It did surprise me a bit really that they basically managed to bring back all the key players from the first film too for this third film. This includes Gwisdek, Berger (rip) and Klink. Or maybe it also does not really say anything positive about them because at this point they really should have understood that there is zero chance for this to become a quality movie.
Now a few more words about these key players and their characters. Sägebrecht is likable as always of course, but her recognition value is also her biggest weakness. I don't think she has a lot of range and basically plays the same against-all-odds character in every film she is in. It just gets annoying at some point. Berger I liked. He has at least some shades and he probably gives the best performance from the cast. I'd say he is better than these films. Or was. Klink plays his daughter again, although you barely recognize. Do they even have a scene together? And on one occasion she talks about him as if he was a stranger. Maybe the writers actually forgot. I mean it's not as if he is there to be with his daughter when she is about to give birth. I'll get to that later. And well Gwisdek I have never been a fan of and ahe also has a tendency to play the exact same character in every film he is in. No Berlin solidarity here, sorry. Of course, he also does not have good material here, but still he makes it even worse as you can clearly see he is overacting and trying really hard to make an impact, especially in the scenes he has with Berger. And his music number at the end was maybe the weakest moment of this film and that says quite something. Now a few words on the story. Of course, it feels unrealistic from beginning to end. There are so many examples. Let's take the window destruction as one example. Or the heart attack (or whatever it was to create some fake drama) near the end. It all felt so for the sake of it and never authentic. Embarrassing truly. And don't even get me started on Marga doubting herself after this medical condition. Yes she basically caused it with her presence and actions (how did she even get all these kids in there??), yet she is of course such a good and kind lady that she sits near him in the ambulance and also in his room at the hospital. And her constant rambling on how she has to turn him into a good person. Oh yeah and of course she also knew immediately that it would be a boy that the guy's daughter gives birth to. It''s so cringeworthy how the character was written. Really tough to stomach. Void of reality altogether and that is indeed a negative deal-breaker because at the core they want audiences to believe she is just a simple person like we are as well. It just doesn't make sense. Don't even get me started on her last name.. I am actually surprised that I liked it when the main antagonist (still not a really bad guy) keeps calling her Engelchen. Maybe because I liked the actor with his mustache. But the way his character was written was a bad joke too on many occasions. I mentioned the window already. Another example would be the charity event that takes place the very same night our "heroes" have theirs. So yeah, there just isn't any perspective from which I (and probably you too) can say this film is a massive failure. Script (or the abomination that is disguised as a script here) is key. Massive thumbs-down. Not recommended. One of the worst German films from 2004 for sure. One for the simple-minded and feel-good component cannot excuse everything that is wrong with these 90 minutes. Watch something else instead.
Now a few more words about these key players and their characters. Sägebrecht is likable as always of course, but her recognition value is also her biggest weakness. I don't think she has a lot of range and basically plays the same against-all-odds character in every film she is in. It just gets annoying at some point. Berger I liked. He has at least some shades and he probably gives the best performance from the cast. I'd say he is better than these films. Or was. Klink plays his daughter again, although you barely recognize. Do they even have a scene together? And on one occasion she talks about him as if he was a stranger. Maybe the writers actually forgot. I mean it's not as if he is there to be with his daughter when she is about to give birth. I'll get to that later. And well Gwisdek I have never been a fan of and ahe also has a tendency to play the exact same character in every film he is in. No Berlin solidarity here, sorry. Of course, he also does not have good material here, but still he makes it even worse as you can clearly see he is overacting and trying really hard to make an impact, especially in the scenes he has with Berger. And his music number at the end was maybe the weakest moment of this film and that says quite something. Now a few words on the story. Of course, it feels unrealistic from beginning to end. There are so many examples. Let's take the window destruction as one example. Or the heart attack (or whatever it was to create some fake drama) near the end. It all felt so for the sake of it and never authentic. Embarrassing truly. And don't even get me started on Marga doubting herself after this medical condition. Yes she basically caused it with her presence and actions (how did she even get all these kids in there??), yet she is of course such a good and kind lady that she sits near him in the ambulance and also in his room at the hospital. And her constant rambling on how she has to turn him into a good person. Oh yeah and of course she also knew immediately that it would be a boy that the guy's daughter gives birth to. It''s so cringeworthy how the character was written. Really tough to stomach. Void of reality altogether and that is indeed a negative deal-breaker because at the core they want audiences to believe she is just a simple person like we are as well. It just doesn't make sense. Don't even get me started on her last name.. I am actually surprised that I liked it when the main antagonist (still not a really bad guy) keeps calling her Engelchen. Maybe because I liked the actor with his mustache. But the way his character was written was a bad joke too on many occasions. I mentioned the window already. Another example would be the charity event that takes place the very same night our "heroes" have theirs. So yeah, there just isn't any perspective from which I (and probably you too) can say this film is a massive failure. Script (or the abomination that is disguised as a script here) is key. Massive thumbs-down. Not recommended. One of the worst German films from 2004 for sure. One for the simple-minded and feel-good component cannot excuse everything that is wrong with these 90 minutes. Watch something else instead.
