User Reviews

The East German border: 836 miles of barbed wire walls, automated machine guns, armed guards, and deadly land mines. On September 15, 1979 two families tried to cross it . East Germany, two families, the Strelzyks (Friedrich Mücke , Karoline Schuch) and the Wetzels (David Kross , Alicia von Rittberg) , make plans to escape the Communist East and flee to the West. Peter Strelzyk comes up with a daring idea to construct a homemade air balloon big enough to carry the two families across the East-West militarized border. The border between East and West Germany is heavily militarized, complete with watch towers, guard dogs, barbed-wire, alarms, sensors, search lights, and patrols. Rumors have it that some areas of the militarized border are mined. The only chance of crossing the border is by air. The Strelzyks and the Wetzels commence their risky venture by purchasing lots of taffeta fabric and sewing it together with a sewing machine in the attic. Peter Strelzyk builds an experimental homemade hot air balloon burner. In 1979 when the balloon is ready Peter and his son test it, but the Wetzel family becomes hesitant. The Strelzyks decide to go alone, but bad weather causes the balloon to crash inside the Communist zone. The Strelzyks leave the crash area, but the incriminating evidence litters the ground. They wonder if they will be able to evade the ensuing Police investigation and whether they will be able to build another balloon for their next attempt. They also are determined to persuade the Wetzel family to maybe join them in their second try. That is, if the East German Communist secret Police, the Stasi commanded by Oberstleutnant Seidel (Thomas Kretschmann) , won't get to them first.For freedom they risked it all and the date of the night crossing was September 15, 1979 .

Based on actual events , about valiant heroes planing to escape from communist East Germany in a flimsy , homemade hot air balloon, but only if they can take their families with them . The real-life "Night Crossing" took just twenty-eight minutes and the flight path of the night crossing went from Poessneck, Thuringia, to Naila, Bavaria, which is near Hof . The fact-based story results to be an exciting action flick for the whole family . Imaginative scenes , suspenseful narration and didactic moralising make the film largely palatable . Furthermore , the excitement , intrigue and entertainment are widely piled on . This is is a second version , the first titled ¨Night crossing¨1982 , scrapings of the Disney barrel , being directed by Delbert Mann with Jon Hurt , Jane Alexander , Beau Bridges , the latter rendition ¨Ballon¨ 2018 is most interested in suspense and tension than the family life .

The motion picture was well and originally directed by Michael Bully Herbig . He is generally considered as being one of the most successful German filmmakers . Herbig is an expert on parody based on known characters , such as ¨Sissi¨ in ¨Lissi and ¨The Wild Emperor¨ and , of course , ¨Vickie the Viking¨ . His second feature movie he directed ,¨ Der Schuh des Manitu¨ became the most successful movie in Germany and Austria ever ,this movie ever with 12 million viewers and the broadcast television premiere of this film earned the highest rating in its history . Ballon (original title) rating : 7 . Acceptable and decent film appointed for children and adolescents and , youngsters ; of course , you'll enjoy this one . Well worth seeing .

Spoilers. Based on a true story. a group of people in a hot air balloon flee east germany for the west. they make it. of course. the filmakers aren't going to make you sit for two hours, only to deliver an unhappy ending. surprisingly, although it comes close to hitting every cliche in the book, it rises above that problem. no pun intended. it's actually exciting.

An overriding sense of paranoia and desperation pervades the entire movie, and those who take freedom for granted ought to stop a moment to consider the overwhelming fear that citizens of socialist countries face merely by conducting their day to day lives. The idea is reinforced time and time again throughout the story, as with the arrest of the border patrol agents who failed to identify the threat of the first failed balloon crossing attempt, or the young boy's response to his teacher that he wasn't allowed to reveal what his father was sewing. The constant looking over one's shoulder to see who was watching or who might have overheard a conversation is the kind of stress that no one should have to endure to live a normal life. The actions taken by the East German Stasi were chilling to say the least, and it required an unusual amount of courage and dedication to follow through with a second escape attempt after the first one failed so excruciatingly short of the mark. With a no name cast in this country, director Michael Herbig brings a tale of considerable bravery to the screen which pulsates with tension the closer the Strelzyk and Wetzel families approach their ultimate goal. Occurring during the summer of 1979, the event took place a full decade prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall, which presaged the end of communism in Eastern and Central Europe.

Most reviews refer to the story which is excellent. Nice insight into the desperation of those fleeing the GDR in the 70s and 80s.

The acting is solid. The cinematography excellent and the sets/costumes really authentic.

The plot is tense and should sort of keep the audience on the edge of their seats.

My major gripe is that the director resorts to a quite a few petty parlour tricks to keep the tension going. Standard stuff like police knocking at the door, the hero goes to a door being knocked upon and voila, they are at different doors!!

Oh, and really bad things happen. But don't worry, he wakes up and he was just dreaming. Aasrgggh.

Every clue the STASI investigate is almost solved at the very last second but just not quite in time to catch them.

Never been done before. Cheesy....

Really not necessary given the truth is so incredibly tense.

That said, pretty well made. OKish..

A tense and exciting tale of a successful escape attempt from East Germany into West Germany via homemade hot air balloon. The script and performances are all excellent and it's a great watch. Definitely worth your time.

This movie is amazing on multiple levels. There is for one (which might explain some bad reviews) the fact that a wonderful comedian/actor/producer and director of incredible funny movies/TV shows managed to create a thriller, and not just any thriller, but a political, historical, based on true events thriller, which is authentic, believable and moving. I love Michael Herbig most for his funny stuff, but one cannot deny his bandwidth as an actor and director, his acting in the thriller Four against the bank was hilarious, his movie Buddy was heartwarming and touching, but still: his genius mostly shows in his comedy stuff - so far. Now he brought the true story of two families on the big screen (a story that I was familiar with for pretty much all my life since the families settled down in a neighbortown in the 80ies and I remember the repair shop of one of them - I also remember the border and the depressing atmosphere there/where many people died - shot trying to escape). And this story is a gripping one. You wouldn't believe it if it wasn't true. A story about families, about a misanthropic system (where people on each side were victims pretty much), a torn country and most of all, of course, a sensational escape. A lot of suspense, a lot of great actors (including a handsome Thomas Kretschmann - who escaped the GDR in 1983 himself - turned into an ugly secret police agent and performing (creepily and) brilliantly), a great eye for (historical) details - if you want to know some of the burdens that happened to (white, European, non-Nazi) Germans (yes, they had to suffer, too) after the war, this is an entertaining, thrilling, moving, accurate way of doing it. Highly recommendable. A history lesson that is also a thriller - what else can you wish for.

"Ballon" is a new 2018 movie from Germany and probably one of the most talked-about films of the year from my country. This film did receive an additional boost because it was directed by Michael Bully Herbig, very well-known here in Germany as a filmmaker, and he is also part of the writing staff. Most people when hearing the name Herbig think of the man's comedies, but here he enters the drama genre for once and I heard he plans to stay there. I don't know if it is the right choice. I think this film's imdb rating is far too high and the other reviewer is correct that this is really not a good movie. It runs for pretty much exactly two hours and tells the story of a family who plans to escape from the GDR to West Germany with the help of a gigantic balloon. It is never an engaging thriller in my opinion. It all feels false and for the sake of it with one scene following the next where they try to show us how close they are to getting caught and how risky their endeavor is. But yeah, maybe it is partially subjective, but it feels like drama for the sake of drama and the story deserves way better. It almost feels like one of these pseudo-important ProSieben blockbuster films in my opinion (fittingly with Herbig's roots). And there is some cringe to it too. Like when they play some board game and one character says "go to jail". Or earlier when one characters asks where he is escaping to this summer with a reference to their flight, but all he meant was escaping in the sense of travelling to which country for the holidays away from the stress. So yeah, it is neither very witty nor very creative and there's tons of these moments. Also how close they come in their first attempt or when they actually succeed and the balloon is touching some electricity cable or that they will not make it early on again. Or that they are not getting enough material to make the balloon etc. It never felt like authentic drama. Or the scene with the "asking for help" note near the American embassy or so when the boy acts all weird to save the situation. Yep, the exact boy who messes everything up almost at the very end when telling the girl he likes that they are leaving and if she wants to go with them. No, teenage love does not explain this garbage story line.

I would not say Bully is the problem here. His direction is solid for sure, but the script is really important. Kinda fitting that one of very few decent moments is near the end when they succeeded (of course) and the Franconians they meet tell them funnily they are not in the West, probably because the film really has no right to take itself seriously the way it does. Not at all. Another okay moment was the nurse who finds out from the child about the plans and how she reacts to it when questioned by the officers. Other than that, it is mediocre popcorn cinema, but it is nowhere near being one of Germany's best films of the year, probably not even best films on the subject of the GDR of the year 2018 to be honest. It is true that they made so many films about this era and yes there's still new ones coming out that are very much worth seeing. This is not one of them. Schuch's and Kusche's stunning looks cannot save the day here at all. And I am not a great fan of Mücke either. The way he seems to channel Bully's acting and line delivery is especially tough to watch during the first half. A thumbs-up to Kross though who wasn't as bad as I expected and to Kretschmann who was a formidable main antagonist at times, perhaps the best thing from the film and a true scene stealer occasionally. But yeah, the story kills all the film's hopes really. It wants to be great, it ends up extremely mediocre and that is still a generous description. Watch something else instead and I am not sold at all by Bully as an influential drama film director, certainly not after the very flawed outcome we got here.

By far the best Herbig film. The story tells the true adventure of a German family who want to escape from the GDR. The film is very exciting and a novelty of the director who is otherwise known exclusively for comedy.

The actors are rather unknown but play roles very authentically.

In his new film adaptation, Michael Bully Herbig depicts the escape preparations as a breathtaking race against time. The self-confessed Hitchcock fan succeeds in creating several scenes whose montage and sound design are reminiscent of the legendary master of suspense.

The fact that the film, designed with such attention to detail, comes across so powerfully is due not least to a clever directorial decision: Bully didn't create the giant flying machine on the computer, but shot it with a real tethered balloon.