|
|
|
|
The Miracle of Bern (Das Wunder von Bern)
Dir: Sönke Wortmann Germany 2003 118 mins CLUB
Cast: Peter Lohmeyer, Louis Klamroth, Peter Franke, Lucas Gregorowicz, Katharina Wackernagel
Johanna Gastdorf, Sascha Goepel
Summer, 1954. The Soviet Union is sending its prisoners of war home. Among them is the father of a quiet, football-loving 11-year-old, Matthias, who lives with his mother, sister and brother in a West-German mining town. The boy has long found a surrogate father in the local football player Helmut Rahn, who has "adopted" Matthias as his mascot. The return of the boy's father Richard casts a shadow over the once-happy family: broken by his years in captivity, Richard has trouble adapting to life in post-war Germany and alienates his family through his severity.
For Richard, football is pointless, and so is the World Cup that's about to be held in Bern, Switzerland. Matthias, however, longs to be there with his idol, who's been chosen to play on the German team. Through his passion for the game and his fighting spirit, Matthias rekindles a love of life in his dad's heart. And so, as the final match of the World Cup begins, a little miracle of love and generosity leaps across borders to help another miracle occur - the victory of Helmut Rahn and the German team, the miracle of Bern.
With The Miracle of Bern, director and ex-football player SönkeWortmann has brilliantly succeeded in setting an intensely emotional and touching family drama against the exhilarating, authentic background of West Germany's miraculous World Cup victory in 1954. The Miracle of Bern, became the highest grossing film in Germany in 2003, topping Tarantino’s Kill Bill. Upon watching the film, Chancellor Schroder was moved to tears.
Soenke Wortmann was born in Marl in 1959. He attended Munich's Academy for Television & Film (HFF/M). After his first term assignment Nachtfahrer (1985), he was invited to London's Royal College of Art. His graduation film, Drei D (1988), received the Eastman Promotional Award at the Hof Film Days and was nominated for a Student OSCAR in 1990. The same year, he made his first TV movie, Eine Wahnsinnsehe. His comedy Alone Among Women (Allein unter Frauen, 1991) won the Hypo-Award at the Munich Filmfest in 1991. His other films include: Little Sharks (Kleine Haie, 1992), Mr Bluesman (1993), Maybe, Maybe Not (Der bewegte Mann, 1994), The Superwife (Das Superweib, 1996), Campus (Der Campus, 1998), St. Pauli Night (St. Pauli Nacht, 1999), The Hollywood Sign (2000), and Das Wunder von Bern (2003).
"The best film on football ever made" Pat Nevin, ex Chelsea, Everton and Motherwell
Winner - Prix du Public UBS / Locarno 2003
Winner - Best Picture (Silver) / German Film Awards 2004
Winner - German Film of the Year / German Film Awards 2004
Winner - Best Actor / German Film Awards 2004
|
|
|
|
|
|
