Horst in Translation ([email protected])
"Die Frau vom Checkpoint Charlie" is a German 2-part film from 2007, so this one here has its 10th anniversary this year. It was directed by Miguel Alexandre and written by Annette Hess and the fact that both were already fairly experienced back then may trick you into expecting more from this film than you should. The poster as well as the pretentious title implying a strong female performance during tumultuous historic times and the name of lead actress Veronica Ferres should tell anybody who just knows a little bit about German film what to expect here: pseudo important crap, acting that is as one-dimensional and cringeworthy as the character was written and by no means a film that makes any kind of historic impact whatsoever. Needless to say the movie also takes itself so seriously that you would think the filmmakers thought they were coming up with something epic, creative and brilliant. This is exactly that kind of movie that tricks the easily entertained into believing Veronica Ferres had any talent pulling off a performance like that. The opposite is the case and the other reviewer is 100% correct that Ferres' facial acting is restricted to a maximum of 2 face expressions both puffy) for 180 minutes approximately and it is a complete mystery to me why she is having any kind of success and why even today a brilliant filmmaker like Werner Herzog casts her as lead. I just don't get it. She is just as bad and one-dimensional as the likes of Furtwängler, Thomalla, Neubauer and others, maybe Berben too. Then again, some consider these talented too, but there all is lost obviously. Back to this film here, there is not a lot to say about the plot. It will only teach something to those who don't know one bit about German history, so yes on the one hand it is a film appealing to the stupid, on the other hand I doubt they'd even want to watch this here. And when I say that this film is based on real events, the stupid can't hold back in their approach how good and important it is, while in fact it is even more shameful what they made of the story of a woman whose fight for her children really could have served as the material for a touching film and not a mess like this one here. On a little side-note: the kids here are played by Ehrich and Schlott, two young actress and among the rising stars of her generation today, both really stunning too, but that's needless to say. They are really not a problem here. The 2 key issues are Ferres and the script, but these are gigantic deal-breakers for the negative side. One pretty safe approach to see that a film like this sucks is if it gets a Rosamunde Pilcher romance story line because we all want the protagonist to be happy of course. But at the same time, we shall never forget she is such a dedicated mother that her kids come first. Ugh. I have to stop now before I really have to throw up. Terrible film here, don't watch and those who gave awards attention to it should be the only ones more ashamed than those who made this film.
