Die Frau vom Checkpoint Charlie is a historical drama (in two parts), which premiered on German television (ARTE) in 2007. It is based on a true story about a woman from East Germany (DDR) and her children.
Here is some basic information about it:
** Directed by Miguel Alexandre
** Screenplay written by Annette Hess
** Based on the book Die Frau vom Checkpoint Charlie by Ines Veith (2006)
** Soundtrack: German – no English subtitles!
** Released on DVD in 2007
** Part one = 87 minutes
** Part two = 88 minutes
** Total run time = 175 minutes
The cast includes the following:
The first group
** Veronica Ferres as Sara Bender – mother of two daughters
** Maria Ehrich as Silvia Bender – Sara’s first daughter (born 1971)
** Elisa Schlott as Sabine “Bine” Bender – Sara’s second daughter (born 1973)
** Peter Kremer as Peter Koch – Sara’s colleague and boyfriend
The second group
** Julian Weigend as Marek – an escape helper (Fluchthelfer)
** Peggy Lukac as Marlene Engel – a friend from West Germany
** Filip Peeters as Richard Panter – a western journalist
The third group
** Julia Jäger as Regine Pries – foster mother
** Götz Schubert as Martin Pries – foster father
** Michael Schenk as Hans Wimpel – a Stasi agent
I do not wish to spoil the viewing for anyone, but I have to mention some details in order to explain my rating.
Besides, the drama is based on a true story and this means that the basic facts are part of the public record.
Sara and her daughters Silvia and Sabine live in the East German town of Erfurt. The story begins in 1982 when Sara and her daughters try to escape to the west via Romania and Yugoslavia.
They are stopped in Romania and transported back to the DDR. Sara is sent to prison, while her daughters are placed with a foster family.
Two years later, in 1984, Sara is released from prison and allowed to leave the country. But her daughters are not allowed to leave. Sara must leave them behind.
From her place in the west, she campaigns to get them out of the DDR – this is why she becomes known as “the lady from Checkpoint Charlie” - but for several years, all her efforts are in vain.
Finally, in 1988 - only one year before the Berlin Wall stopped working - the daughters are allowed to leave the country and to be united with their mother (after six years of separation). At that time, the older daughter Silvia is 17 and the younger daughter Sabine is 15.
While this historical drama is based on a true story, it is not a documentary film. It is a dramatized version of events.
Not everything happened exactly as showed in the drama. Some names have been changed. Perhaps for legal reasons. And some details have been added, altered or excluded. Probably for dramatic purposes.
# 1. Some names have been changed:
** In the movie, the mother is called Sara Bender. Her real name is Jutta Gallus. Since her arrival in the west, she has remarried; now she is known as Jutta Fleck
** In the movie, the older daughter is called Silvia. Her real name is Claudia
** In the movie, the younger daughter is called Sabine. Her real name is Beate
# 2. Some details have been added, altered or excluded:
** Sara’s father was not killed in a traffic accident in the west, as stated in the movie
** It follows that Sara was not denied permission to attend his funeral in the west, as stated in the movie
** The daughters did not suffer, because their mother had offended the government of the DDR: one was performing on East German television, while the other one attended the very ballet school she is not allowed to attend in the movie
** Peter Koch, who is going to marry Sara in the movie, is a fictional character
** Sara’s apartment was not bugged by the Stasi, as shown in the movie
** The daughters were not placed with a foster family, as stated in the movie; they were placed with their biological father (who has been excluded from the drama)
** Sara was released from prison in 1984, as stated in the movie, but we are never told how or why this happened: she was ransomed by West Germany
** The daughters were not told that their mother had been killed in a traffic accident, as stated in the movie
** Sara did not travel to Helsinki, Finland, in 1985 in order to campaign for her cause during the tenth summit of the Helsinki Conference. Why not? Because the tenth summit of this organisation was held in Vienna, Austria
** There was no Stasi attempt to kill Sara while she was in Helsinki, because she was never there; there was no Stasi attempt to kill her while she was in Vienna
** The daughters did not get permission to leave the DDR because the foster mother took pity on them; they contacted the East German lawyer Wolfgang Vogel, who was able to help them secure the exit visas
** The family reunion did not take place at Checkpoint Charlie, as shown in the movie; the daughters crossed the border at Invaliden Strasse
As you can see, several details have been added, altered or excluded. These details are not minor. They are important and significant elements of the story-line. And they all point in the same direction: they make the story-line worse than it actually was.
If you ask me, these additions or changes were not necessary. The true story was already dramatic enough in itself.
What do reviewers say about this movie?
On IMDb it has a rating of 61 per cent, which corresponds to three stars on Amazon.
On the German version of Amazon there are at the moment 134 ratings of this product, 49 with reviews.
The average rating is 4.5 stars, which corresponds to a rating of 90 percent.
This drama has a captivating, dramatic and emotional story, but it also has a serious flaw: too many details have been added, altered or excluded for no good reason.
In my opinion, the rating on Amazon is too high, while the rating on IMDb is quite appropriate. This drama is not great. It is not even good. It is average. This is why I think it deserves a rating of three stars (60 percent).
PS # 1. Die Frau vom Checkpoint Charlie: Die Dokumentation is a documentary film by Peter Adler which was shown on German television (ARTE) in 2007, after the historical drama was shown on this channel.
PS # 2. Jutta Gallus served time in Hoheneck Prison. For information about this place, see the following books:
** Der dunkle Ort: 25 Frauenschicksale aus dem DDR-Frauengefängnis Hoheneck by Maggie Riepl and Dirk von Nayhauss (2012) (2014)
** Hoheneck: Das DDR-Frauenzuchthaus by Rengha Rodewill (2014)
PS # 3. Es ist nicht vorbei is a German drama about a woman who served time in Hoheneck and her life after her release from prison. This drama, which is inspired by a true story, premiered in 2011.
*****
Die Frau vom Checkpoint Charlie
Die Dokumentation
(2007)
*****
Die Frau vom Checkpoint Charlie
by Ines Veith
(2006)
*****
Hoheneck:
Das DDR-Frauenzuchthaus
by Rengha Rodewill
(2014)
*****
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