I Was Nineteen

Feb 1, 1968

1h 55m

★ 7.3

Overview

A young soldier enters Germany with Soviet troops at the end of WWII, feeling like a stranger in his homeland. As he meets Germans, he grapples with his ambivalence, realizing he is both a victor and one of the vanquished. His inquisitive nature leads him to confront the atrocities and lies he encounters along the way.

Genres

Drama

History

War

Production Companies

DEFA-Studio für Spielfilme

Künstlerische Arbeitsgruppe ''Babelsberg''

I Was Nineteen Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Gregor Hecker

Jaecki Schwarz

Wadim

Vasiliy Livanov

Etappenmajor Behring

Rolf Hoppe

Sowjetisches Mädchen

Galina Polskikh

Oberleutnant Schenk, Adjutant

Jürgen Hentsch

SS-Sturmbannführer

Kurt Böwe

Zweiter befreiter Häftling

Hermann Beyer

Sowjetisches General

Mikhail Gluzskiy

deutsches Mädchen

Jenny Gröllmann

Landschaftsarchitekt

Wolfgang Greese

Oberst Lewerenz

Johannes Wieke

Feldwebel

Fritz Mohr

Sunny is the singer of band trying to establish itself in the music-scene of East-Berlin. They play regular gigs in small towns, but Sunny feels out of touch with the audience and her life as a whole. She begins a relationship with the amateur saxophonist and studied philosopher Ralph who writes her a very personal song - but his obsession with death and unfaithful lifestyle is not for her. After getting into a quarrel with a band member who harasses her and telling off a show-host she is thrown out of the band. Abandoned, she struggles to regain control over her life.

4.1

Bird Waking Weather

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Jette and Johannes have been living together for two years when Johannes suggests that they "legalize" their relationship. Jette loves him, but the proposal of marriage terrifies her.

6.2

Naked Among Wolves

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Based on a true story of inmates at KZ Buchenwald that risked their lives to hide a small Jewish boy shortly before the liberation of the camp.

5.8

The Legend of Paul and Paula

Mar 14, 1973

Paul and Paula have had bad experiences with love: Paul is financially well off but has lost all affection for his wife, and Paula leads a troublesome life raising two children on her own. They meet and discover a strong passion for each other. Life seems like a dream when they're together - but their short flights from the burdens of reality are once and again interrupted by Paul's ties to family and career.

5.0

Der Direktor

Dec 26, 1980

The school authorities want to read success stories in director Joachim Faber's reports. But they cannot simply be produced on an assembly line. Pupils, for example, use the wrong tone. The matter draws circles until the superiors finally talk about refusal to work. Director Faber is caught between the efforts to resolve the conflict with pedagogical means and the pressure from above.

5.8

Farewell

Oct 10, 1968

In August of 1914, amidst the public ecstasy surrounding the impending war, Hans Gastl, the young son of a Munich bürger, makes a decision: he will not take part in this war. This resolution signifies a turning point in his life; a farewell to his class and his family.

7.5

Balloon

Sep 27, 2018

Two families attempt a daredevil plan to escape the GDR with a homemade hot air balloon, but it crashes just before the border. The Stasi finds traces of this attempt to escape and immediately starts investigations, while the two families are forced to build a new escape balloon. With each passing day the Stasi is closer on their heels – a nerve-wracking race against time begins.

5.8

Sugar Sand

Jun 24, 2017

End of the 1970s in East Germany: Fred and Jonas are close friends. The 10-year-olds live near at the German-German frontier. After the mother from Jonas has made an exit application, the boys have to recognize that they are soon separated from each other. But they want to dig a tunnel to Australia to meet there themselves again. When Jonas should leave the country with his mother this night changes everything.

4.0

Verzeihung, sehen Sie Fußball?

Apr 7, 1983

A high-rise building in the center of Berlin in the GDR on July 11, 1982. The final match of the soccer World Cup is being broadcast on television. Five episodes revolve around this event: Soccer fanatic Kneutzsch is torn between the exciting match and the rather irritated woman by the unexpected visit of a lady to whom he has written a marriage announcement ... Dr. Kobermann - on painkillers - has mistaken the bathroom door for the corridor door and locked herself out. Her husband is sitting in front of the TV with headphones on and doesn't hear her ringing, so she seeks refuge in her nightgown with a neighbor, a flautist. After his ex-love Carmen leaves him and wants to return home, the exiled Andrés follows the game - in the knowledge that his father, thousands of kilometers away, is also watching...

9.2

The Peculiar Abilities of Mr. Mahler

Jan 25, 2017

A missing person case involving a child in 1987 East Germany attracts the attention of an investigator rumored to possess supernatural powers.

6.1

Trace of Stones

Jun 30, 1966

Bad planning and shortages prevail on an East German construction site. Foreman Hannes Balla uses unconventional methods to overcome the problems. New Socialist Unity Party secretary Werner Horrath is charged with bringing the rough-and-ready builder crew into line. The task seems doomed to fail as the two men compete for the affections of young engineer Kati Klee. But when she gets pregnant by married man Horrath, he is in danger of being expelled from the party, and Balla takes his side...

0.0

The Indestructibles

May 15, 2021

East Germany, 1986. When her sister flees to West Berlin, the life of a young East German woman is turned upside down as she must justify her involvement in the escape to the authorities and decide between her family and her own safety.

4.9

East of the Wall

Mar 28, 1985

Felix from West-Berlin falls in love with Thomas in East-Berlin. At first they keep their relationship going by regular visits from Felix, but the curfew forces him to return every evening. When the East-German authorities become suspicious, Thomas decides to try and flee to the West.

8.0

The Lives of Others

Mar 23, 2006

In 1984 East Berlin, dedicated Stasi officer Gerd Wiesler begins spying on a famous playwright and his actress-lover Christa-Maria. Wiesler becomes unexpectedly sympathetic to the couple, and faces conflicting loyalties when his superior takes a liking to Christa-Maria.

6.8

Die Frau vom Checkpoint Charlie

Sep 28, 2007

Based on a true story, Miguel Alexandre's two-part drama focuses on an East German woman and the fight for her children. Spring 1982: Sara Bender, living with her daughters Silvia and Sabine in the East German town of Erfurt, wants to marry her colleague Peter, but shortly before the wedding, her father is killed in a road accident. As the funeral takes place in West Germany, she isn't allowed to got there, so she starts planning to leave her communist home country forever. Trying to flee via Romania, she is caught by the secret service. After years in jail, Sara is ransomed by the West German government, but without her daughters. To draw the world's attention on her desperate situation, she starts demonstrating at the Berlin border crossing Checkpoint Charlie

5.4

Das Wunder von Berlin

Jan 26, 2008

East Germany, 1988: working as a state security service agent, Jürgen Kaiser is loyal to the party line, but worried about his son Marco, a punk. As he is arrested after a concert, Marco is forced to join the army, where he surprisingly identifies with socialism and believes he has to defend his country against the capitalist enemy. While Jürgen is astonished, his wife Hanna and Marco's girlfriend Anja, supporting the civil rights movement, don't like his new attitude...

0.0

Sternenklar

Apr 15, 2022

East-Berlin, 1980. Two sisters, one professional fleeing assistant and one soldier. And an escape that could go either way...

6.1

Night Crossing

Feb 5, 1982

Two men want to escape from East Germany (under Communist rule) but they will only go if they can take their families with them. Based on a true story.