Synopsis:
They are East Berlin teenagers. They want to be free – to dance to rock’n’roll, trade forbidden Western goods and get away from the constraints of their parents and the state. This classic 1950’s teen cult film – which stars Bertolt Brecht's son-in-law, Ekkehard Schall – is a perceptive social portrayal of a city in which political and economic division affects the entire population. Although the film became a box-office hit and was greeted with suspicion by East German officials. Ranked by film critics among Germany’s 100 Most Important Films, this Kohlhaase-Klein collaboration makes an important contribution to the international youth film genre. This film was part of the Rebels with a Cause: The Cinema of East Germany series, screened at The Museum of Modern Art in 2005.

Press Comments:
2010 Berlin International Film Festival, Hommage Wolfgang Kohlhaase

Powerful performances! – The Museum of Modern Art, New York

The film successfully combined aspects of Italian neo-realism with the Hollywood juvenile-delinquency flicks released in West Germany. - Jim Hoberman, Village Voice

The East German version of The Wild Ones. - Desson Thomson, Washington Post

It remains a classic of German and European youth films. - Prof. Barton Byg, University of Massachusetts Amherst

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