Product Description

Based on the secret diary kept by acclaimed German filmmaker Konrad Wolf while he was a soldier in the Russian Army, I WAS NINETEEN is the director's most personal film. A highlight of the DEFA collection, Wolf examines his own past through the poetic story of a young German, Gregor Hecker, who as a child fled with his parents to the Soviet Union, but who eventually returns to Germany as a soldier after WWII with the victorious Soviet troops.

Suddenly Gregor finds he is different from his comrades in arms, for this defeated land is his home and the Germans he meets upon his return are his compatriots. Gregor is a victor, but also one of the vanquished. As the Soviet troops advance into Germany, Gregor attempts to understand the Germans he meets along the way. His perspective is that of a nineteen year-old, inquisitive, occasionally uncomprehending, and repeatedly dismayed by the atrocities and lies he encounters. Gregor falls in love and simply cannot understand the death of a friend in the last hours of the war - the final death in a long line of deaths that pave his way from Moscow to Berlin.

An austere, independent minded work of art, the film not only contains many stories about the last days of the war, but also tells Wolf's own story and uses actual documentary footage from the documentary "Death Camp of Sachsenhausen" (1946), which was one of the first post-war German films about the Nazi period.

The DEFA Collection refers to the state-run studios of the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany. Located in the historic "film city" of Babelsberg near Berlin, DEFA was part of one of the world's oldest and most distinguished film traditions. It produced films in nearly all genres including documentaries, feature films, animation and more.

I WAS NINETEEN is ranked by film critics to be among Germany's 100 most important films of all time.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #59473 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-10-23
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: German
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 115 minutes

Review
...Rarely in the arts have postwar Germans been so precisely portrayed. But along with this differentiated, distanced, critically stringent and bitterly frank depiction, there is also human understanding and unbiased perceptions without any clichés. This truthful portrayal is painful but also healing. This film is a self-contained and accomplished work of art - a first-class film. --Neue Zeit

Review
As far as I am concerned, this the best film - in a short eternity - that has been made in Germany. --Hermann Kant, Forum (Berlin)

Customer Reviews

Finally on DVD!
This film is truly unique in the film-making world, it is the only film that i have ever seen or dealt with that advances the plot and tells important parts of the story in TWO languages. I have a copy of this film that is from Germany with no subtitles. Since i speak both german and russian and am familiar with this point in history, i am very impressed with the realistic portrayal of the last days of WW2. Young Gregor Hecker, who is technically a german, but has grown up a russian and deals with trying to find out what it actually means to be "german", but the situations he faces and his experiences really can translate to just about anyone trying to find out what it means to be "american" or "russian" or "french" or anyone's nationality. He learns some very interesting lessons about himself and also about dealing with other individual people, and that one should never have any pre-concieved notions about groups of people. The most fascinating thing about this movie, is that it is a telling story of individuality and humanity, while the larger story of war is all around. I recommend this film to anyone (since it has subtitles) interested in WW2, because it will give a very accurate and interesting perspective of this time period.

Highly recommended
I have watched this film on DVD several times and plan to watch it again.

This would be a good film for anyone who is studying Russian or German.

There is a very complex interplay between Hecker, who is a German-Russian, Wadim who is a Russian Jew, and Sascha, who is Russian. Hecker is only nineteen and does not know much about the world. He was raised in Germany until he was 8 then his family moved to Moscow. So, his formative years were spend in Russia and he identifies himself as a Soviet. This leads to some interesting scenes in which he interacts with Germans who, in some cases, even know his family members. They are in turn fascinated by a "German" in a Soviet uniform who is appearing as a their conqueror.

His comrade Wadim is a Russian Jew who is also a German language teacher in his civilian profession. Wadim loves the German language, but must reconcile the defeat of Germany, the atrocities of the camps, and his friend Hecker's disinterest in German culture. At one point there is strife between Wadim and Hecker over this.

Sascha is a kommisar and takes care of young Hecker. He is like an older brother to Hecker. His character is uncomplicated by the internal conflicts of the others. Along with Dsingis, they provide a solid foundation for the conflicted Hecker and Wadim.

One of the most powerful scenes in the movie is at then end when Hecker and his captured German prisoners come under fire from a passing German convoy. A German prisoner, Willi Lommer, who had been disarmed, picks up a rifle to help Hecker defend their position. It's a pure "us against them" moment in which countries, uniforms, backgrounds, don't matter, only survival.

A complex and interesting movie worth not only watching, but studying.

Fascinating Amalgam
A fascinating amalgam of documentary, drama and history with a unique perspective on World War II that I've never quite encountered before. I wasn't fully aware that this was actually an East German propaganda film, although I did find myself wondering why all of the Russians in this movie were highly moral, heroic, friendly, and physically attractive. Strongly recommended for history buffs. Subtitled.