Lichter

This movie reflects on the situation around the border between Poland and Germany. The fate of many single characters creates a picture of life in this region: Some Russians want to cross the border illegal to get into Germany, a company wants to build a new factory, a Polish taxi driver desperately needs money to buy his daughter a communion dress, and so on.

All this is very well written and directed. All the characters are true to life, and through the multiperspectivic reflection on the situation the movie works very well. Good acting performances do the rest. The one minor critical point I have is: The stories are standing on their own. I think the movie would have been better if they would have been connected in more points than just happening in one region. So the movie gets a 9 out of 10- but is still worth watching and very touchy.

I've seen the movie just a month ago in a foreign film program in my city. I live in Juarez City, just in the border between Mexico and USA and let me tell you something that a good friend told me about it: "is the best movie I ever seen about Juarez city". Situations are the same and are truly reflected on the screen the reality on millions and millions of persons worldwide. It's very common to see persons trying to go to the other side of the river to get the "American dream" and in the mid time histories like the ones reflected on the movie took place every single day. The screenplay is very simple, and characters were well developed during the film. The most touching history was the "mattress guy". The actor transmits very deep emotions and exactly the same situation lived a good friend of mine here, miles away. Another strong history was the one related with the Ukrainian immigrants. Every year, hundreds of persons die in this city in their attempt to go to the other side, just miles away, were the lights are reflecting a different nation and in consequence different opportunities. The cast of actors were well selected and performances were simple, but convincing. This is the first film I saw from Schmid but I have to thank him for this extraordinary movie. As I think, there is no need to have a high budget to deliver a good film and this is another example that sometimes the simple is the best. Characters that could be identified with real people in real situations. At the end, the last scene defines and summarizes all the history: life is so strange and we can be touched by simple people forever. By films like this is why I like the movies.

The acting was good, and the story kind of interesting.

I don´t think it is an important film, but it gives you something to think about. To think about human behaviour etc.

To be a really good film I missed a lot of explanations. For example why the family wanted to leave the Ukraine. Why they took a little baby with them? I wouldn`t make such a dangerous journey with a baby if it wouldn`t be really necessary. So the story about the Ukrainians didn`t work for me.

6/10.

This episode film draws quite a realistic picture on life on both sides of the German-Polish border. To the group of Ukrainian, stranded at the polish side of river Oder, the lights of the German town of Frankfurt/Oder promise a new life, wealth and freedom in the West. And nearly impossible to reach, as they cannot hope for asylum there. But life on the other side is also not as easy as it seems. We meet Ingo, who tries to make some money building up a mattress store and fails miserably; Katharina who has fled from the children's home and now makes her living of smuggling cigarettes over the border. On the other side of the river, there's the polish father who tries almost everything to get together the money for his daughter's communion dress; student Beata who works as a translator and also fulfills the more special wishes of her customers, as long as she gets paid. During the film, some of these people's ways cross, some don't, some try to help the others, some betray them, everyone struggles to make the best out of it for himself whether he or she is Polish, German or Ukrainian. One other thing struck my mind: In one scene of the film, Beata meets her German ex-boyfriend; when they start arguing, she shouts at him in Polish. He doesn't understand her and tells her to speak German and she answers: "If you had really loved me, you'd have learned Polish a long time ago!" He just says: "You can't be serious." I found this exemplary for many of the people, especially the Germans, that they don't understand the others, and they don't want to try. The people on the other side of the border, or those connected to it like German-Ukrainian translator Sonya, seem to help each other more, even though they also try to make their own profit by it, sometimes. Maybe this is the difference between the two worlds on the two sides of the river.

I'm not exactly sure why but this film just hit me right at the heart and hasn't left me since I left the cinema (which has been more than a year now). I completely disagree with the review that's on the title page at the moment in almost every point. He says the film was too busy... I say it was authentic and seeing the making of it makes you realize how the "busy" camera was mainly due to the fact that the actors had a lot of room for improvisation which you can tell when you see the film.

He also said that he thought that the mattress episode was pointless. I found it really really moving. And Devid Striesow just acts incredibly well (He doesn't act like an actor but like a real person which is something you have to get used to at first but then it's so rewarding to watch!)

I also think that the parallel way of storytelling worked really well and it wasn't hard to follow the plots at all. I'm actually proud that films like this one are made in Germany and this is just so much better than the average big-budget Hollywood film. The mood it creates is so tense, depressing and yet hopeful. It is definitely one of my favourite movies.