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Border Crossers

1999 · 102 min

A calm, talky documentary that follows three lives across a divided Europe, informative rather than dramatic.

Directed by
Pavel Schnabel
Genres
Documentary
Overview
The “Border Crossers” of the title are three men who were affected by the division of Central Europe through the Iron Curtain and each reacted to it in their own way: Thomas Schoppe was a singer of the Klaus Renft Combo, one of the best-known rock groups in the GDR; in 1978 he moved to West Berlin, after the turn he tries to restart his career in the East. The Germanist Peter Porsch, who is from Vienna, emigrated to the GDR in 1973; after the turnaround, he is active in the PDS. The Czech dissident Ivan Dejmal, on the other hand, has never left the country despite massive persecution; after the turnaround, he becomes environment minister in Prague. The film paints a very unideological picture of the East-West relations.

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In the UKNo streaming, rental or purchase options known.
Directed by
Pavel Schnabel
Genres
Documentary
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
    Pacing
    brisk, 3 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
    Attention
    background-friendly, 1 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
    Themes
    • politics
    • identity
    • freedom
    • art
    • betrayal
    Places
    None
    Era
    contemporary
    Audience
    adult
    Form
    • documentary
    Content intensity
    • Gore none
    • Language none
    • Violence none
    • Sex none
    All scales, 0 to 10
    Scales, 0 to 10
    ScaleValue0 to 10
    Action0
    Horror0
    Humour2
    Realism10
    Romance0
    Tension2
    Darkness3
    Complexity5
    Emotional weight4

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    Where to watch in the UK

    No UK streaming, rental or purchase options are known.

    Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

    Details

    Genres
    documentary
    Directed by
    Pavel Schnabel
    Runtime
    102 min
    Country
    Germany
    Languages
    German

    TMDB