Directed by:
Thomas StuberCinematography:
Peter MatjaskoComposer:
Matthias KleinCast:
Franz Dinda, Stephanie Schönfeld, Janusz Kocaj, Niklas Kohrt, Michael Schweighöfer, Michael Ginsburg, Kerstin De AhnaPlots(1)
Four pupils at an elite boarding school form a clique. At night they sneak out to drink and to play. They are searching for extreme forms of distraction in order to escape the golden cage their wealthy parents have created for them.
As time goes by, their games become increasingly violent and they begin to home in on the weakest one in the group – Leibnitz. Dyrbusch, the leader of the group, and Bogatsch, his 'henchman', persist in tormenting Leibnitz more and more severely. Leibnitz acquiesces, partly because he can't seem to shake off his tormentors, and partly because he doesn't want to lose their 'friendship' and worries about what will happen if his parents find out. Konstantin, the group's fellow-traveller, is the only one who is aware of the moral dimension to their actions. But he hesitates because he is reluctant to destroy the clique that is so important to the four schoolboys. And so their spiral of violence and peer pressure continues to spin out of control – until the inevitable happens ...
(Berlinale)
Cast
Franz Dinda
East Germany
Best movies:
Mogadishu Welcome (2008) (TV movie)
A Year in Winter (2008)
The Speer and Hitler: Devil's Architect (2005) (series)
Stephanie Schönfeld
Best movies:
Free Fall (2013)
Summer in Berlin (2005)
Whiskey with Vodka (2009)
Janusz Kocaj
Best movies:
Lollipop Monster (2011)
Der Turm (2012) (TV movie)
Tatort (1970) (series)
Niklas Kohrt
East Germany
Best movies:
Tough Enough (2006)
Tatort (1970) (series)
Spencer (2021)
Michael Schweighöfer
East Germany
Best movies:
Beat (2018) (series)
Friendship! (2010)
Break Up Man (2013)
Michael Ginsburg
Soviet Union
Best movies:
Neger, Neger, Schornsteinfeger (2006) (TV movie)
Polizeiruf 110 (1971) (series)
Tatort (1970) (series)
Kerstin De Ahna
German Empire
Best movies:
The Little Drummer Girl (1984)
Tatort (1970) (series)
Teenage Angst (2008)