"Vorwärts immer!", which means "always forward", is a German television film from 2017. This one was directed by the fairly experienced Francis Meletzky, who has been making films since the old millennium and, fittingly with the subject here, was born in the GDR. His writer is Markus Thebe and he is not an experienced filmmaker at all and looking at how bad the script here was, I can only hope he either really steps things up in the future or tries his luck in another profession. Anyway, the movie in the original runs for easily over 1.5 hours, but the television version I watched was considerably shorter, under 90 minutes, and I assume they cut out the credits mostly and also the big opening sequence that leads us to the film's title was kept a bit shorter. But it does not really matter because fact is you should not watch either of the two versions. It's a horrible movie. The only somewhat positive thing I can say here is that lead actor Jörg Schüttauf was decent and I can see why he received some awards recognition for his portrayal, actually received even pretty prestigious awards recognition. Also this film that is at the center of the action about Erich Honecker shows us how films about the GDR are still popular enough to attract actors that are really pretty famous here in Germany. Striesow is the best example, even if he played a bit of a nothing character this time. Matschenz and Grossmann are other examples. Alexander Schubert is in it too, but I guess not too many know him. I am only familiar with him because hd indeed looks like Krenz, which still does not make him a talented actor. And from the abysmal propaganda television format "heute show" where he regularly shows the orld (or Germany) his lack of talent and range and versatility. Kriegeskotte is also pretty experienced I believe. She plays one of the two leads, but I cannot really blame her for the weak outcome there because of how poorly her character was written. The other female actress with major screentime I blame very much though. Josefine Preuß is a horrible actress with zero range and versatility in everything I have seen her in, especially the several GDR-themed films she has been a part of, and it is embarrassing she still gets cast for roles that have more than five minutes screen time. Yes, she is this bad. Also equally embarrassing as her character's entire strory here. I mean she is all about the haircut, maybe the outfit, but the plot about the main character's daughter being so resistant and progressive that she wants to leave the country illegally is a bad joke. Preuß does not have one percent range to pull it off. Instead, all that stays in the mind about her is the ridiculously laughable love triangle that she is a part of. Of course, also we are supposed to believe she is extremely desirable and a man magnet because of how natural she is. Well, let me tell you this: She is the exact opposite of a natural when it comes to acting. The first scene with her and the guy trying to be quiet, so daddy won't find out she is sleeping with his rival's son was already self-explanatory quality-wise. But also not much later the scene with her father outside and how she has an anger attack after what he does was cringeworthy to watch because of how bad she was. I mean Schüttauf is not Pacino, but he sure felt like that next to this little untalented brat. And yeah, she also does not decide which boy she wants to be with at the end, probably because the filmmakers were scared that some people in the audience would not be amused. Okay, this shall be enough about her character. I am only elaborating on it because it was really a crucial part of the film and not just all about Schüttauf's character.
The latter you can see on the poster too in his two roles. Several actors here played two characters. This is the story of a man posing as Erich Honecker to send an order to border patrol that they will not shoot people trying to flee from the GDR because his daughter is about to flee. Okay, if you thought that this was not absurd enough already, you are wrong. Actually, his plan goes so well that not only the GDR citizens who see him think it is him, but also those people that see him every single day. Truly a bad joke in terms of realism. With the security guard outside, it is already difficult to believe, but when we are also supposed to accept that Krenz and the gang are not one bit suspicious, then it is just too much for sure. They just think he is acting weird for whatever reason. But the real insult to every audience member's intelligence is when we are also supposed to believe that Margot Honecker, his wife of many decades, cannot tell the difference. I mean he is not just lying around there. They are talking, interacting and yet she is sure it is him. Until people come and tell her of course. This resulted in the bizarre kiss sequence that was just as cringeworthy to watch. I allready said earlier that with the Margot character, they basically got it all wrong and I still think so 100%. Her quote about how they have not touched each other (in a romantic way, I assume) was also pretty bad and actually really disrespectful. We do not know what their marriage was like in reality, so statements like this should not be made. I mean there is fictionalization even in the most authentic biopics, but certain lines should not be crossed and this just shows that the writer (and everybody else here) simply has no morals. It was almost hurtful. Then again, here we have another ARD Degeto production and nobody should be surprised because they have come up with hundreds of garbage films over the years. While at the same time forcing the German people to pay double-digit amounts each and every month to finance their crappy production. A true abomination that shall not go unpunished. There are many other weak moments in this film. I will just mention three more completely idiotic scenes. The dramatic: When the daughter is up there on the roof with one of the boys. The dramedic: When they are stopped by police and how they get away. The comedic: The actor's conversation with the real Honecker. The latter was supposed to be funny, but in reality, it is a prime example of how apparently Thebe is completely free of talent when it comes to writing funnily entertaining sequences. This scene had a lot of potential, but his absence of vision messed it up entirely. Unreal. You could not have written said scene worse than he did in fact. And all this despite having a quality actor like Schüttauf (okay, he is not always good either) at your disposal. But the worst thing about this entire film is really how it dares to take itself seriously all the time. It is a parody at best, nothing more. It is so bad that it never should have been made. And certainly shoudl not be watched, so it will never be shwon on television again. I see there is another Honecker-themed film from the same year (2017) and that one is starring Martin Brambach, a personal favorite and he is always good, and I genuinely hope this one will be better, although I am not sure. This one here is evidence enough how a decent lead performance is not even close to being enough that the film itself also reaches a convincing degree of quality. "Vorwärts immer!" is the biggest backward step imaginable for a German history movie and you should not see it. With the difference that it played during an entirely different era in history, I occasionally felt that it reminded me a bit of Helge Schneider's Hitler comedy, at least with the general approach, but the things that went slightly wrong in that one there went wrong completely here. The outcome is a complete abomination. I highly, highly recommend not to watch "Vorwärts immer!" because in its best moments it is boring, which is quite an achievement given how tumultuous times it depicts, in its weakest moments it is complete failure. And the one thing it wanted to be so badly more than anything else is also the one thing it never manages to achieve: Being funny. The Biermann reference is the bes example. I wonder what he thinks about this film and his inclusion. Oh well, ennough now. GGotta make sure I hopefully forget this movie as soon as possible. Yep, it is this bad.
The latter you can see on the poster too in his two roles. Several actors here played two characters. This is the story of a man posing as Erich Honecker to send an order to border patrol that they will not shoot people trying to flee from the GDR because his daughter is about to flee. Okay, if you thought that this was not absurd enough already, you are wrong. Actually, his plan goes so well that not only the GDR citizens who see him think it is him, but also those people that see him every single day. Truly a bad joke in terms of realism. With the security guard outside, it is already difficult to believe, but when we are also supposed to accept that Krenz and the gang are not one bit suspicious, then it is just too much for sure. They just think he is acting weird for whatever reason. But the real insult to every audience member's intelligence is when we are also supposed to believe that Margot Honecker, his wife of many decades, cannot tell the difference. I mean he is not just lying around there. They are talking, interacting and yet she is sure it is him. Until people come and tell her of course. This resulted in the bizarre kiss sequence that was just as cringeworthy to watch. I allready said earlier that with the Margot character, they basically got it all wrong and I still think so 100%. Her quote about how they have not touched each other (in a romantic way, I assume) was also pretty bad and actually really disrespectful. We do not know what their marriage was like in reality, so statements like this should not be made. I mean there is fictionalization even in the most authentic biopics, but certain lines should not be crossed and this just shows that the writer (and everybody else here) simply has no morals. It was almost hurtful. Then again, here we have another ARD Degeto production and nobody should be surprised because they have come up with hundreds of garbage films over the years. While at the same time forcing the German people to pay double-digit amounts each and every month to finance their crappy production. A true abomination that shall not go unpunished. There are many other weak moments in this film. I will just mention three more completely idiotic scenes. The dramatic: When the daughter is up there on the roof with one of the boys. The dramedic: When they are stopped by police and how they get away. The comedic: The actor's conversation with the real Honecker. The latter was supposed to be funny, but in reality, it is a prime example of how apparently Thebe is completely free of talent when it comes to writing funnily entertaining sequences. This scene had a lot of potential, but his absence of vision messed it up entirely. Unreal. You could not have written said scene worse than he did in fact. And all this despite having a quality actor like Schüttauf (okay, he is not always good either) at your disposal. But the worst thing about this entire film is really how it dares to take itself seriously all the time. It is a parody at best, nothing more. It is so bad that it never should have been made. And certainly shoudl not be watched, so it will never be shwon on television again. I see there is another Honecker-themed film from the same year (2017) and that one is starring Martin Brambach, a personal favorite and he is always good, and I genuinely hope this one will be better, although I am not sure. This one here is evidence enough how a decent lead performance is not even close to being enough that the film itself also reaches a convincing degree of quality. "Vorwärts immer!" is the biggest backward step imaginable for a German history movie and you should not see it. With the difference that it played during an entirely different era in history, I occasionally felt that it reminded me a bit of Helge Schneider's Hitler comedy, at least with the general approach, but the things that went slightly wrong in that one there went wrong completely here. The outcome is a complete abomination. I highly, highly recommend not to watch "Vorwärts immer!" because in its best moments it is boring, which is quite an achievement given how tumultuous times it depicts, in its weakest moments it is complete failure. And the one thing it wanted to be so badly more than anything else is also the one thing it never manages to achieve: Being funny. The Biermann reference is the bes example. I wonder what he thinks about this film and his inclusion. Oh well, ennough now. GGotta make sure I hopefully forget this movie as soon as possible. Yep, it is this bad.
