User Reviews

"Der geteilte Himmel" tells the story of a young couple, whose life is turned upside down when one of them develops a plan of leaving the GDR and starting a new life in West Germany.

The film doesn't use big gestures or all too dramatic effects but rather tells a down to earth and honest portrayal of two "normal" people. It is, in a way, very political, because it adresses a lot of social issues inherent in the society of the countries while at the same time focussing on a very personal and private story. Unfortunately, at times it begns to feel a bit too calm and is missing the opportunities to set peaks or falls. That way it still tells a very noteable story but fails to leave even bigger impressions.

All in all this is surely a good addition to the repertoire of films centered around the German seperation but it's not the most impressive one and a bit unhandy.

The underlying book pf Christa Wolf is very famous and many German children already have read it in school. The movie follows the book very accurately, the author herself also worked for the movie script.

It is a story about a couple which is separated through the different ways the two German states took. The girl is 20 and the boy 29 when they meet. They live together in a bigger city in eastern Germany where he finishes his studies and she starts to study at the university. She also starts to work in a factory. In the process of working with her colleagues she starts to understand the difficulties of working in a socialist economy and how different people react to these obstacles. Some turn inside and work only as much as necessary, others try to achieve something but have to deal with politics. She feels more and more passion for this society and starts to encourage others to speak out and not to give up.

Her friend gets more and more frustrated triggered by the rejection of a new process developed by him. He sees more chance to work and pursue his career in the west and so he leaves eastern Germany. He expects his girl-friend to follow him but she decides after having visited him that she belongs to her colleagues and into her world. The love story ends.

The movie has a kind of sad undertone. His decision appears like "giving up" and she looses the only one she loves. The film ends with her saying that she is over it waiting for a letter of him.

What I liked about this movie is the seriousness and the good dialogs. The love story is told without a sentimentality and therefore even more convincing. It is a good contrast to some "softer" movies of the (western German) 60ies. However to understand also the context in which the book has been written, it is helpful to dig into the internet and look for the official role writers had in the late 50ies in the GDR.

"Der geteilte Himmel" or "The Divided Heaven" is an East German movie that had its 50th anniversary two years ago. It was directed by CKonrad Wolf who also helped in adapting Christa Wolf's novel for the screen here. And there were many more writers working here, which is usually disappointing me if so many people work on a script and when it has such obvious flaws nonetheless. Too many cooks spoil the broth, at least in this case here. With that being said, I don't think this was a terrible film by any means. I think the political context is working well for the most part and makes it interesting on some occasions, but it just wasn't enough for a film that runs for almost 2 hours. The movie is also in black-and-white, even if by 1964 there were still many color films being produced everywhere around the world, but looking at other works from the country too, this was not yet the case for the GDR. The only cast member in the film I am familiar with looking at the names is Hilmar Thate. But even he was fairly forgettable. Same also goes for Renate Blume who did not do too much for me as the one playing the central character of the film. this may have worked better with a more gifted actress. But the worst thing that is pretty much a deal breaker for the negative side here is the dialogs. It was really cringeworthy to listen to the way they were talking. It all sounded so scripted and fake and never felt authentic in a way people would actually talk, even worse than in some Fassbinder films. This also almost destroyed the entire viewing experience for me. And the few positive factors simply weren't enough in terms of quality or quantity to outweigh the bad. I do not recommend the watch. Thumbs down and unfortunately to me this film is another piece of evidence how the GDR was never a great country in terms of filmmaking as this one is considered by many as one of the best films from the country. A sad state of affairs, that is.