Christiane F. (1981)

hyped garbage

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

WARNING!...This is a very, Very, VERY depressing movie!...VERY!... The brutal reality depicted in this 1981, German film is so shockingly graphic at times that it sends the viewer into a state of near numbness due to over-exposure."Christiane F" is basically a savage blow-by-blow account of what could easily happen to a naive, 14 year old, German brat who leaves the manicured, middle class comforts of her white, suburban home and decides to trek on down to Berlin (where she thinks the grass is greener).What is ultimately the most depressing thing about "Christiane F" is the fact that it is based on a true account of one young girl's downward spiral into the arena of hell, via the fast lane.And, is the movie "Christiane F" an answer to the problem? No, not really. It could never be that. But, perhaps, it may open a few eyes. And, believe me, the more eyes open, the better.*Special note* - Pop idol - David Bowie makes a cameo appearance in this film and a number of his songs are featured throughout the film's soundtrack.

A harrowing ordeal...as any good movie that explores the world of drug addiction should be. Quite graphic in its depiction of the consequences of drug addiction, and the heartbreaking, and seemingly unbreakable, bonds involved. Just when you think someone is about to break free, they get sucked back in. Very sad, and frustrating.About as searingly graphic, if not more, as Requiem for a Dream, another excellent movie that should convince anyone who watches it to avoid the scourge that is drugs. Another movie you wouldn't want to watch too frequently, due to its gruesome honesty and the fact that the images are burned into your brain.Excellent soundtrack from David Bowie, including live concert footage. Most of the songs are from his Heroes album, which was written and recorded in West Berlin, and conveys the feelings that living in West Berlin evoked in Bowie. Ideal soundtrack then for Christiane F, being set in West Berlin.

This movie is disturbing!The scenes of people taking heroin and bloody needles and fights for the fix is just disturbing for me. Maybe because I never took any kind of drug and this movie was some kind of a revelation to me, but on the other hand, it went through my mind that it is good I never taken any.The movie was shot in that way that I had a feeling that I was there...That I was present whole time while the girl and the boy were struggling with their addiction.I was also shocked to see ( but I guess the movie did not go far from truth) that there were so many of those addicted people at metro and train stations...It was very uncomfortable for me to watch. As I said very disturbing!I think the boy did a bit better job in acting than the girl. Both were great and both cute. David Bowie in the movie was a 'weird' touch, but I guess his 'colorfulness' fit the film good.All in all, eight from me.

If you grew up in Germany during the 1980s, "Christiane F" would seem forever present, no matter where you looked. The film was a mayor hit at the box-office and excerpts from the original novel were made homework in almost all schools. One couldn't open up a boulevard-paper or magazine without coming across horror-stories about yet another youngster that has overdosed in a seedy toilet by the train-station, generally accompanied by a photo of said toilet and corpse (more often than not looking horrible fake). Indeed, most kids that the distinct impression that, should they fall with the wrong crowd and – heaven beware – ever take a drag from a joint, that they would surely join that ever-growing horde of junkies that seemed to take over the subways like an army of the living dead. At least such was the impression.First of: those drug-hotspots did exist, they do exist and – unless one day some sensible drug-policies are implicated and the politics stop catering to big-business drug-cartels – they will exist forevermore. Go to any major train-station between Frankfurt, Hamburg and Berlin, and you'll find junkies loitering around. And yes, if you look suitable gullible, you'll likely be approached by an 'ex-junkie, freshly sober and clean' who'll request some financial assistance, that will enable him to 'reach a far-off place, where a job is waiting for him or her'. But what you won't find is this seemingly post-apocalyptic scenario that "Christiane F" has painted, simply because it never existed other than in the media and the minds of the people.One must give kudos to the film and the director: It shows the effect of heavy drug-addiction as realistic and relentless as "Leaving Las Vegas" shows the effect of alcohol-abuse. The horrors of being a junkie, drifting ever further the social-ladder and the descent into addiction, prostitution and eventually death are indeed harrowing. However, when it comes to the subject of the protagonist and the severity of the general problems, more than just some artistic-liberties have been taken.Unlike the novel and the interviews with (the real) Christiane F, the film neglects to tell us, that Christiane and her friends already come from a severely disturbed, low-class background. Germanys social-system (or if you want, "caste-system") is very rigid, similar to that in the US. "Can't deny your roots" and if you happen to come from a redneck or white trash background, it is very unlikely that all the money in the world will be able to wash that background off.The movie would like to make us believe that any 'nice girl from next door' can slide down into the living hell of the junkie-world, but that is only half true. True, anybody can get hooked on drugs, be it nicotine, heroin, coffee or the adrenaline rush received from extreme sports. But to become part of this little world of Christiane F (horrible as it may be), it would require an exposure that literally begins at birth.So, despite all the truth in "Christiane F", one also has to admit that it is vastly exaggerated and, in the context of media-politics (especially in the West) also very manipulative. Look no further than the current anti-drug campaigns, that assure us that smoking marijuana is the beginning of the end (no, marijuana leads to harder drugs like thinking leads to madness). You will no doubt have read about Crystal-Meth, that currently turns a whole generation into an army of toothless, violent zombies. Or about the drug Krokodil looming on the horizon, a drug 50-times as potent as heroin and making the flesh virtually rot off the user's bones. They do exist, Crystal-Meth and/or Krokodil – but like most illegal things, they are more detrimental to the individual and not the society.As much as I cherish "Christiane F" as a movie, it's relentless realism, the excellent actors (both the professionals and the laymen) and not being able to deny that it is one of the most accomplished anti-drug-films of all times, I cannot help to think that it's neither an answer to anything, nor at the essence very much more than a parody (albeit a harrowing one) of the drug-culture and the general situation. As such I can give it no more than 6/10.