Known for Acting
Eight-year-old Christian lives with his grandparents after the death of his mother. When his grandmother falls ill, grandfather Meschka wants to take the boy to live with his aunt at the Baltic Sea. But Christian is against it. On the trip, the two develop a new relationship that changes everything.
In February of 1918, in Boka Kotorska, the greatest uprising of Austrian sailors broke out. Forty warships, with 6.000 sailors, rebelled against the Austrian Monarchy. The uprising was bloodily crushed after two days, and it's leaders shot.
A senior professor is kidnapped in the park by residents of a veterans home. Once there, he is asked to invent a "rejuvenating machine" to restore their youth.
Germany at the end of World War II: Teacher Grübler lives in a small village in the Ore Mountains together with his 15-year old son Wolfgang. At school, the dutiful Grübler, a member of the NSDAP, teaches his pupils to volunteer for military service, but when his own son volunteers for the Waffen SS, he is nevertheless shocked and fears for his boy′s life. But Wolfgang starts to hate his father for his doubts: He thinks his father is a coward. In his desperation, Grübler chains and kidnaps his son to hide him in a dugout in the forest until the end of the war. In their shelter, father and son are fighting bitterly but when the Nazis who still believe in the "Endsieg" discover their hideout, Grübler sacrifices his life to save Wolfgang.
The late summer of 1918. Paul, Willi and Heinrich from an age-old German town are good friends, although there is a great deal that divides them. Heinrich comes from an officer's family with an army tradition and is preparing to enter cadet college. Paul's father and grandfather are workers, and Willi, left to depend on himself, works as a hotel messenger. The last year of the war is hard for everyone, but while Paul and Willi know their own minds and do not hesitate to help the war fugitives Tony and Sepp, for Heinrich everything is more complicated.
A commercial artist with a lisp chooses silence, unexpectedly propelling his career. His perceived innovation leads to rapid advancement in an ad agency. Mueller-Stahl shines in this biting critique of East German workplace culture.
October 1918: Karl Liebknecht is released from prison and Berlin workers celebrate his release. Although WWI is almost over, the German Kaiserreich in vain sends its last reserves to the slaughter. The working class is in a rebellious mood; the uprising of Kiel’s sailors against war and militarism sets off a call for revolution led by Liebknecht. On November 9, Liebknecht declares the Free Socialist Republic of Germany. But pro-Kaiser military and right wing Social Democrats oppose him.
