| 2016 | Berlinale Classics, Berlin International Film Festival |
| 1988 | Panorama, Berlin International Film Festival |
| 1988 | Best Director (Heiner Carow), GDR National Feature Film Festival, Karl-Marx-Stadt |
| 1988 | Best Costume Design (Werner Bergemann), GDR National Feature Film Festival, Karl-Marx-Stadt |
| 1988 | Best Editing (Evelyn Carow), GDR National Feature Film Festival, Karl-Marx-Stadt |
The end of WWII is fast approaching and 16-year-old Günter, a member of the Hitler Youth, still believes in a German victory. He is drafted into Nazi Germany’s last-ditch effort to resist the approaching Soviet Army. When he is captured and accused of killing a Soviet forced laborer, Günter faces an intense psychological crisis.
Heiner Carow’s semi-autobiographical film was not approved for final production. Officials argued it focused on an ordinary Nazi follower, rather than an antifascist hero, and that it was “contaminated with modernism.” The film, which includes clips from the Nazi propaganda film Kolberg (1945), was finally reconstructed and released in 1987. This DVD presents a new digitally-restored 2K-transfer of the film.
See the trailer for The Russians Are Coming
| Price | $29.95 |
Career
Original title: Karriere, GDR, 1970, dir. Heiner Carow, 84 min., b/w, CinemaScope, English subtitles
After officials banned The Russians Are Coming, Heiner Carow decided to use footage from the banned film as flashbacks in a new film (Career, Original title: Karriere, GDR, 1970, dir. Heiner Carow, 84 min., b/w). Set in contemporary West Germany at the end of the 1960s, Career is an interesting story in its own right. A few years after its release, however, the director vehemently distanced himself from its conformity to the party line.